Citizens of Vale
by Thomas Tran
Summary: After Cinder's attack, Vale has been devoid of any life besides Grimm. However, there lies a small neighborhood on the far west side of Beacon whose surviving citizens have been left to die. Atlas has declared this neighborhood "too hot" to send a rescue team in and has told its inhabitants to wait. Three weeks have passed. Hope is falling, but one group of five still hold on.
1. A Plea for Equality

The City of Vale, the light of the future. How very poetic. I've lived here for twenty-five years of my life but I've never felt the nationalism that others have felt in this "Grand Country". I've spoken and preached, but my righteous words became distorted when they enter the ears of those corrupted with rage. Ozpin's magnificent school in the distance, always glowing, always gleaming, over the darkness below. Unfortunately, the light glares too brightly and it only irritates the beasts below, Grimm, faunus, and Human. The White Fang, the poverty gangs, the serial killers, the corrupt students, I wanted to end it all. I went to a good College, got into government, lied to remain true to my goal, took in all the necessary evils to compete, and here I am, In a run down building on the wrong side of Vale with a gun in my hand and my life flashing before my eyes as I realize that nobody will come for me. The individuals beside me grieve in unison to keep me company for misery loathes loneliness.

No one ever checked this side of Vale. For all that matters, we are dead. My mother and father died in this neighborhood as well, leading an unheard revolution. How fitting for me to pass in obscurity along with them. The lack of presence must run in the family.

I look out the window. The sky is silver, the brightest it could possibly be before nature punishes it with rain and lightning for being too kind to us lowly individuals. The authorities are here, but not where we are. Our location was deemed "too hot" to approach. We tried to escape but the grimm wants us to stay no matter how many times we tried to escape. They want something from us.

It could be Kiana, the silent faunus who always listens to her music. It could be Luther, the policeman of this neighborhood.. It could be Vanya, a member of the poverty gangs. It could be Cadea, the mother with a life within her but lost the life beside her. It could be me, the speaker. Whoever it could be, none of us deserve this. To be trapped in this area, surrounded, hunted. Cadea has never killed, Luther always protected, Vanya always gave and took in equality, Kiana never pestered anyone, I fought for equality and freedom. Yet we suffer, yet our pleads and cries must remain silent or else mother will hear and she will punish us with her friends below.

The dim sky begins to hurt my eye and I look around the room. My eyes land on two family portraits. One with the mother and father, another with the daughter. The parents are proper, upright, smiling correctly, looking in the right direction, perfect. The child is more loose with her masculine choice of clothing, her eyes looking slightly to the left of the camera, her smile too bright and blinding. She was most likely scolded after for being so peculiar with her choice of position. Maybe not. Perhaps the parents encourage her to be who she wished to be for the portrait while they themselves must stick to the status quo, for age has caused their brightness to fade and their imagination to morph into a metal city. It reminds me of childhood. I miss those days of ignorance and innocence, when I would play in the worlds in my head and talk to the people I create. Even now, I still live in a dream. I still think I can fight for my goals after I escape. What a fool I am.

If we escape, if we live. My eyes fall onto Cadea, sitting on the dirty, cold floor, one hand patting the tip of her belly, humming a tune that could make a grim fall asleep. The melody, sweet as spring, cold as winter, red like roses. We will live, we will escape. We are all together. There's nothing to fear. We are one, powerful and equal.


	2. The Beast Awakens

I regret the day I let my guard down and trust others to carry on my goal. As I stood on those various podiums, preaching of love, advocating peace, the flames that erupted later on shocked me greatly. These men and women have suffered greatly at the bottom of their fellow man, but rage brings more rage and what results is a pool of unintelligible anger. Each action's justification becomes more and more ridiculous until all that can really be said is an index finger motion around one's throat. Now, my name is covered in flames, burning the roses, cutting the violets, bleeding the innocent, killing the sky. I never wanted this. I never wished for the fangs to turn red.

"Hey." I hear Vanya saying in the corner of my ear, her voice projected toward me specifically. "We're running low on canned food again." She says in a slightly irritated tone.

"It's getting dark, we should go when there's more light." Luther suggests, worry enveloping his voice.

"Damn," Vanya mutters, "I'm still not even half filled yet." She drops the can she was eating out of on the hardwood floor.

"Sorry, safety comes first."

I look over to Cadea, still patting her child within, motherly and feminine, shining beautifully. I look at the can beside Vanya. Ravioli. Cheese, beef, tomato, fats. "Cadea, did you remember to take your vitamin supplements yet?" I ask her as softly as I can in hopes to avoid irritating her for interrupting her bond with the only other family she has.

"Yes, I did already." She smiles brightly, "Thank you for caring." She looks down at her belly and puts both palms on the sides, feeling the warmth within, "I think the baby's healthy enough for today."

"We got enough vitamins to last for the week right?" Vanya asks, her eyes wider than usual.

"For the whole month actually." Luther responds immediately. "We got a lot from that pharmacy run a few days back. If she just takes three every day, she can definitely last for a month."

Her eyes fall to the floor, beginning to calm, "All right, good. Just making sure."

I look at Kiana, she looks at her phone and taps once before she puts it back down on her lap and look at the upper right corner of the room we are sitting in, most likely staring at a spider web. I look in the direction she is staring in and see that it is indeed just that. The strands are small but plentiful, crossing one another to remain together, united, connected. I feel as if a tear might appear from the corner of my eye, as the spider scurries around, trying its best to protect its home, its purpose from falling apart as another spider sits in the corner, watching. Good luck my friend. Times change, people don't, and when that happens, things begin to fall apart.

Though I think this, I can not help but to think of the lives of the spiders. They build this web of unity, for their family, children, brethren. For the web to fall apart means the destruction of themselves, but there are always those who do time's work to destroy it. These individuals tear down the pre-established foundations to start anew, preventing any changes that could occur for the better. Nothing but confusion and rage could fill my mind about the individuals who destroyed the city of Beacon. Faunus kind were so very close to obtaining equality and civil rights. Their river of freedom could be heard behind the forests of hardship and their happiness just beyond the river. However, the rage and ignorance of those enraged cut the forest down in hopes to destroy the woods that block their path, causing the trees to fall, making the journey much more difficult if not impossible now.

"Do you think spiders are pretty?" I hear a monotone voice call from my right, quiet and somewhat emotionless.

I look to see Kiana looking at with her blank eyes, probably curious as to what caught my attention in the corner, but I can not be too sure since her face never shows any of her thoughts. It might be because she is good at hiding, or it could be because she is tired of showing. "Y-yeah, a bit." I say, realizing that I have not answered her yet.

"They tend to be very misunderstood. The friendly, non poisonous ones simply live alongside humans and faunus, in fear of us. The more dangerous brethren, however, are much more fierce and bite and human or faunus that gets too close. What results is this fear of them all as a whole, because of their form we find disgusting and the potential danger their species can bring, and so everyone tends to destroy the first spider they see to prevent any death." Kiana points to the web in the corner, "That one is poisonous but it does not want to hurt us because it has lost a close friend to the previous humans and faunus that inhabited this place before. Now, she only wishes to protect the only family she has without being involved with us for she knows revenge will only bring the demise of them both."

"How do you know this?" I ask, slightly confused, surprised, and astonished.

"They have always been there since we came here last week. Even when we had much more people, some closer and more threatening to its nest, it remained there, trembling, wishing that the larger beings would leave them alone." She looks at the web once more to confirm that they are still there, together. "The smaller spiders are always misrepresented by their larger grim counterparts. It's a pity that they must cower in fear all their lives."

I hear a snicker in the corner of the room. I look over to see Vanya smirking at the ground, a palm over her forehead. "Throughout this whole week, you talked the most today and it's about goddamn spiders." she says, almost to herself. "And to him of all people." she adds almost out of spite.

Kiana says nothing, as if the negative statement itself was worth as much as her dust in the wind, a bland rock within a field of pebbles. She continues to look at the web in the corner of the room as Vanya looks out the window, somewhat disappointed of the lack of response. "Damn, I'm still hungry." she mutters.

"Well there's nothing you can do but wait." I tell her. I myself am not too sure why I said it. It must be to return the spite, to express my anger, to speak the truth. Either way, her opinion of me was simply enforced due to that statement.

She averts her gaze from outside the window to directly at me. She has the eyes of red hatred, her blood flowing through her iris with increased darkness as she looks deeper into my despicable face. I regret ever saying a word.

"How about you shut it Mr. Politics." She says, her hatred gathering around her throat as she states this, all the while glaring at me with her blood soaked eyes. "Why don't you go tell some faunuses to kill more people."

I have no idea what came into my body. I wanted it to have been a foreign entity that controlled my every movement, but I know that it is something ugly that has been building up inside me for a very long time. This being is the reason why I feel older than I really am, why I despise showing my face to others, especially the white fang, who treat me in the most despicable fashion of them all. These words that Vanya has shoved into my throat sparked this force that I have spoken and advocated against. My head becomes light, my face is on fire, my legs have no mass, my arms light enough to swing endlessly.

"I didn't do that and you know it!" I shouted as I stand up, "You all know, goddamn it! I never wanted any of this to happen"

Vanya looks at me as if she is facing a tyrant. "You caused it and that's all that matters. Your little reasons don't matter to the dead kids a few blocks away because they didn't know that faunuses were the better species."

"Don't compare me to those lawless bastards, I will never tell people to kill. I will never tell people to bow to me. I didn't kill these people. I want that masked fiend dead as much as the next person. why can't you see that?"

Vanya stands up to meet her eyes with mine. I can see the darkness in her blood and I know that I my eyes are a direct mirror of hers.

"Then why don't you do something about it? Those 'lawless bastards' love you so the minute you tell them to stop, they'll leave, but no, instead you hide away like a coward!"

"It's not that simple."

"Well it's a start you damn skinless idiot!"

"They won't listen to me so easily."

"That's not what their praises say."

"You don't understand a thing you're saying, Vanya."

"Then I guess your parents didn't either when they die-"

Hell's gates had been broken, the beast broke free. Hades name has been spoken and so rings the bells of rage that rings for all to hear.

I don't remember much of what happened. it was much too fast for me to notice.

It was a blur, a sharp pain on my fist, then my body, then my face, again, again, again, again. It stops. The colors begin to form shapes, figures, people, Vanya. She breathes heavily above me, her fist red of my blood, I assume, and her eyes as if she has just killed a man. A man who has hurt her dearly for many decades. Luther is by her side, holding her back with all of his might as she tries her best to lunge at me. Kiana is to my left, I begin to feel her arm on my numbing back, helping me up. The statement she said remains latched in my mind. I want it to leave, but the word will stay. I've wanted it to leave for a long time and it had, but oh how it has returned.

My head continues to ring as my body is lifted upright without my control. I look over to Cadea, still sitting, but her face restless and concerned and surprised of the scene Vanya and I have performed for her. Her light green eyes, shining with care yet helpless and unsure of what to do.

"Don't blame yourself, Cadea." I say, half consciously and unsure of why, without meeting her eyes. I look up at Vanya who looks down on me in return, the blood still running through her eyes. "You win." I say, putting on my best fearless face. The blood slows, it remains clotted in place for a while, unsure of where to go. Then it slowly drains from the eyes, leaving the pink iris in peace, showing the whites once more. Luther loosens his grip of her as she begins to relax herself. Her eyes begin to fade as she looks down upon me. The gaze of pity. She gestures Luther away from her and walks away. "For now." I mutter, under my breath, under my mouth, out of sight, out of mind. It was out of spite. It has no meaning behind it. I am not mad. Anger continues the cycle of misery and everyone knows that. I of all people should know that. Maybe. I don't know.

Cadea comes over to me with two tissue papers and begins wiping my face, mostly my nose. "Thank you." I say, smiling to the best of my ability, not thinking of my injured face.

As if I never smiled, her face remains concerned, but more collective now that Vanya's anger has subsided. "I never blamed myself to begin with,"

"Oh, sorry. I just thought, uh. Well, your eyes." I hesitate.

"I was just surprised that you acted so rashly at her"

My eyes fall, not having the energy to remain looking at her after remembering what I just did. I thought I was over it. I guess I'm not. I'm still obsessed. The name of Hades had been said and my humanity acted upon itself. I may have controlled it. It is too colorless to recall if the beast was tamed or wild, if I could have controlled it. "I just really respected my parents." I lie.

"Everybody does." Cadea smiles, "But no parent would want you to hurt another person like that."

My chest grows heavy. I never knew my parents, only of their accomplishments and of their activism. They inspired me, but I never really truly respected them. I felt as if I could have done a better job. I wanted to achieve the results they were not able to see before their deaths. I don't know what else I could have said but I never saw myself as a dishonest man.

"Y-yeah." I weakly whisper. Cadea smiles brightly.

I look back up to see Luther sitting next to Vanya on the other side of the room, talking to her intently, trying to calm her, maybe even to change her opinion of me. I highly doubt she will, and I do not blame her at all. I look at Kiana, whose eyes are on the other side. These three, why did they not step in to stop the argument? Did they even see us? Did they even hear us? They never would have expected me to act in such a manner, but surely any argument should be ended as soon as it begins.

"You two have despised one another since last week." Kiana begins, "I wanted to let you two argue because I thought you would have answered most of her questions as to why you never spoke to your faunus followers about your disapproval of militant action, but that happened instead. Why did you not tell them?" I remain silent. I have just answered her question for her. "They praise you too much to do any harm to you. They still reference you, but not as much anymore due to that red haired fellow being their new leader now. But either way, you must tell them what they are doing is wrong before others must suffer as well."

"It's too late. They destroyed Beacon Academy and all the hunters and huntresses are scattered about with no sense of direction. The White Fang have won. They now seize this desolate wasteland and I give them a 'hey ho' for their accomplishment."

"You can not surrender so easily otherwise Vanya will be absolutely correct about you being a coward."

"Fine then, I'm a coward for hiding, a fool for trusting, a sap for giving up. I simply don't care anymore. Anything I say is hurtful. My beautiful poems will be turned to poison. The hints of hate within a speech will be intensified tenfold and used as a chant for warfare. Let the grimm kill me for all that matters." I try catching myself from saying any of this but I could not. The words kept coming unconsciously without my control. Tears edge toward the edge of my eye. The beast has come again.

"Don't say things like that. That's dangerous territory." Cadea begins, putting her soft, velvet-like palm on my head and gently brushing it. "Grimm loves to feed off of pessimism like yours. You need to show them that you're better than that. If you can influence the white fang's beginning, you can sure as hell stop it." I look at Cadea, surprised at her use of profanity. She smiles at me to comfort me as her soft palm eases me. It works.

Kiana pats my back lightly, somewhat impatiently, "Do you feel better now?" She asks me.

"I'm still a bit sore, but yeah, I feel much better than before."

"Good, then you should go to your mattress and sleep. It is getting late and you need to rest up for our food run tomorrow."

"Yeah." I quickly mutter before struggling to stand upright. Cadea attempts to help me but I gesture her to leave. I glance at Vanya as I walk past her and she does not even look in my direction. Perhaps she does not care about me anymore. I am most likely just another cowardly politician in her eyes, scared for his life, scared for his image to be more tainted than it already has been.

I walk down the hallway, lacking of the light that was in the living room we gathered in. The walls are cold and the absence of windows only make the path darker than it already is. Second door on the left, that is my room. Beyond the door frame, I am welcomed by a bare mattress only elevated two feet above the ground and full of springs as its interior. I shuffle to the mattress and fall carefully onto the spring filled bliss. I lie there for a few seconds, smiling. I remember of my youth, when my dreams were still alive and my hopes were among the birds that soared in the skies. I believed everyone would know what I am saying, what I want, what I believed in. What a happy, ignorant fool I was.

My smile fades. The tears come again, this time falling more uncontrollably. "Hello again." it says as it resurges from my eyes now. I turn my body so my eyes face the wall. Beacon. A symbol of hope, a city of lights. I've lived here for thirty years, but I've already seen the lights extinguished before last week. The white fang could have came today and the city would still be dark. Maybe not for some, maybe not for many, but for me, the night embraces me, covering my face in its warm chest. I have not seen light for five years. I do not expect to any time soon.


	3. The light remains

I saw a dear friend within my sleep. She is a faunus, a pretty faunus, a caring person. Her ears are like that of a husky, similar that of Kiana, but white instead of black. There was this coat that she always wore, thought black, long and masculine, she would wear it over even her most feminine attires. This would portray a peculiar image for her that I admired greatly. She told me that it belonged to her grandfather, and he received it from his grandmother. Though as old as it is, the material is still new, gleaming brightly as the sun shines upon it.

She was an odd one. She would speak to me of hunters and huntresses after her Literature class and would tell me tales of heroes and Valkyries who saved humanity from destruction in the beginning and how they used dust to bravely fend the grimm and prevent the destruction of our species. Though I would always listen, the content of the story did not interest me as much as it did for her. After all, she majored in history and literature while I majored in public policies and philosophy.

Though I recognize its importance, dust does not interest me in the least, for it was not the brute power of dust that ended the Great War of Remnant, but the words of a few who wished for the kingdoms to cooperate against the darkness of the Grimm. I wanted to join these voices, I wanted to ensure that no one in Vale or any of the other four kingdoms are to be forgotten. My old friend was the one who inspired me to take the road of my eventual failure. I do not blame her, she was right. Faunus are discriminated constantly by non-faunus individuals and their civil rights must be advocated. My failure only comes from me and my inability to convey my words well enough.

If she were in my place, if she stood at the podium that day instead of me. If I had never seen that report on television. If my anger had never consumed me whole on that day. She supported me too much. That was her mistake. That was how she perished. Anco. You beautiful fool.

That dream happens a lot. I've consulted a therapist about why it continues to happen, he says I am grieving. It has been five years since then and the dreams continue to come. Little moments of me and her together before the story that ended it all. By then, the light would burst on my eyes, blinding me of my required darkness to sleep and awake me to tomorrow. Ending the story there is good, I do not need to know what happens next. However, my room has no windows recently.

"Hey, get up." A rough, jagged voice says to me.

My eyes open to see a tall woman with hair to her shoulders and eyes of a lion whose eyes see a familiar hunter. Vanya.

This is the first time she has ever bothered to wake me up herself since she tended to not care about me at all. She is wearing a sleeveless shirt this morning and carries her rifle on her left arm and a handgun on her right. She tosses the pistol at me the moment she sees that my eyes have met her's. The gun lands on my lap and she walks away without looking at me at all. I managed to get a closer glimpse at her arm before she disappeared, a dragon spiraling down her right and flowers surrounding a knife on her left with the blade pointed toward her wrist. The Slits.

The worst of the poverty gangs, mugging, robbing, killing, all for the sake of money, but not power. They steal to survive and kill for honor of a fallen comrade who was victim of a more brutal gang. They would slit the side of any offender's wrist, whether it be from a foreign gang or their own. I've always respected them, along with the Daylight District Dolls and the Conmen. They are simply men and women, adapting to the cruel world around them while maintaining their moral of sparing innocent lives.

Vanya's association with them is not new to me, but she rarely showed her insigna to us since she had always worn a jacket to cover her arms. Maybe she trusts us now. Maybe she does not care anymore if we shame her. Yes, that is most likely, for any shame we bring upon her would be temporary before the grimm devour us from existence.

As I walk into the family room, I see Luther looking into the side slit of his shotgun, checking if the inside is clean. Vanya simply holds her gun, looking out the window again, watching for the dim sun, hidden behind the infinity of clouds in the sky. My eyes land on Cadea as she just swallowed a nutrition pill for her child. She sees me and reaches into an empty can of peaches beside her, pulling out two dust clips for pistols.

"Catch." she says slightly after tossing them at me. I drop them. It was not her fault, the toss was perfect. I was never a great catcher. Things always seemed to just slip through my fingers.

I ignore Vanya's snicker as I pick up my clips and put them into the pockets of my suit pants. From behind, I hear a somewhat light yawn followed by footsteps toward Luther. It is not like Kiana to wake up this late. She would usually wake up much earlier than everyone else to check her rifle. Though it was hard to hear because of her tired voice, I made out that she could not sleep due to distant gunshots on her side of the apartment.

"It could have been other survivors shooting down grimm in their area, or maybe even the military." Luther says, his voice greatly uplifted compared to the gray around him.

"It was survivors, no way it could've been military." Vanya retorts. She feels the gaze of others around her, including mine, and continues to justify her statement, "The shots were too random to be military. Soldiers know the spray patterns of their guns to get the best accuracy out of their weapons, survivors hold down the trigger and get on both knees to hope that the bullets hit. And from how much they sprayed, they were really scared and were most likely surrounded.." And, the colors of old return to what it once was.

Though I did not see it, I could tell the brightness in his eyes had dimmed greatly to match the bleak sky. He wants to believe that she is lying, that the negative comment was just a meaningless spur of pessimism from a hopeless woman, but she sleeps in the bedrooms on the left side of the apartment with Kiana and the images on her arm shows her experience with the behavior of her bellow brethren of poverty.

What surprises me the most is the silence. Vanya has just exposed her bare arms to everyone in the group and no one has commented on it at all, not even me. Perhaps the others realize that they are all equal regardless of one's background. Perhaps they are simply too tired to care.

Luther stands up, holding his shotgun just tight enough so it will not fall down. "Let's go." He says. The conciseness of his statement is dark and heavy. A shadow lingers in the air, even as he finishes. He walks out the door into the main hallways and the women follow directly behind. I grab my backpack and follow suit.

The streets are haunted of past memories, though I do not mind so much. The ghosts are welcoming and only offer warm memories for one to remember. A little faunus boy using father's wrench to loosen the fire hydrant on a hot summer day, a human woman serving meals to the homeless in a makeshift soup kitchen, an adolescent human girl in a drab black uniform, delivering packages to her neighbors to save up for a car soon. The graves of which the memories come from do not move one bit, wishing to keep the joy forever in place, never to be let go.

The memories mostly consist of calm slices of idle life, wishing to forget the chaos that followed after a few choose to end the inequality that reigned in secrecy for years, myself included. I wished for everyone to be able to share the same moments of joy together, not just the humans or the ignorant or the innocent or the oblivious. Though the ghosts may not mean to, the images of the past simply mock me, showing my desires that I failed to reach and scenes of ignorant bliss of which I know the evils of discrimination and hatred lurks in the background.

The apartment complexes I pass by, the project buildings I gaze at only saddens me in a subtle but noticeable way as I realize that the bleak grey and brown and black that paints over the buildings now were no different from the buildings before. The wall that stretches beyond the neighborhood was meant to protect these fair citizens of Beacon but it only contributed to their condemnation as the Grimm flooded in their waves of black, drowning everyone in a sea of crimson. Only now do the officials realize that people live here, that the school and the stadium are not where everyone resides, but it is far too late. No matter if the area is "too hot" or too cold, all that is left in the hearts of survivors is black sense of dread that numbs their feelings to any spikes of fire or ice.

I wanted to be the savior of this neighborhood, the voice that leads it to the light that others basked in, but I've brought them condemnation as well. If the inhabitants are to hear my speech again, human or faunus, they will remember my long hair and beard as "him", worse than any grimm. For my own protection and for that of others, I've altered my appearance, but Vanya recognized me the moment she saw me and so did Cadea and Luther and Kiana. How many people can I hide from?

We traversed quietly enough to reach the convenience store without alerting a single grimm, but for what purpose? The store is almost empty due to us wasting it all away on the last meal before the fifteen men massacre five days ago. Though a beautiful scene of camaraderie, it resulted in more than half of the convenience store food being used up. An unfortunate waste that they perished.

Once inside, the air conditioner whispers waves of cool air onto my body, offering my damp and warm body a mixed blessing. I go to the refrigerated section and look into the containers. Microwavable meals only. I forgot that we emptied out the ice cream aisle two days ago. I look at the shelves behind me. There lie chips, beef sticks, and other dry snacks. I grab them all due to the lack of anything else better to get.

I walk to the beverages aisle, looking into the light caves where the corpses of empty bottles and broken glass resides. There lies several bottles of blue sodas, glistening their sweet content in the lights above. I open the door of the cooler but as i do so, the lights flicker their last breaths and pass away. I paid no mind to it and put each bottle in my backpack until the cooler is empty. I close the door, but an image in front of me grabs my eye and freezes my body in place. My face.

It has been two weeks since I have seen my own reflection. The bathroom mirrors are broken and the closet mirrors are missing in the apartment. I look upon myself and see the man I have created. My head is bare and only the shadow of my beard remains on my face. It has been a habit for me to shave every night. Ever since that day when my voice brought hatred into the hearts of thousands. The man in the reflection continues to look back at me, mimicking my every movement. All I can see in this man that has value are dark light blue eyes, the light cowering in fear behind. He suddenly smiles, he snickers under his breath. "Disgusting." He whispers. My body becomes more limber and I walk away from the man. That is no man. That is the beast.

"You can run all you want, but all that will accomplish is the shortness of your breath." The beast continues. I stop. I want to hear what he has to say about me. I want to find out how much he knows about me. "A sad little man you are. You are no man. Man stands. You lie with your face tucked between your knees."

I can feel him smile brightly behind, "Do you remember Anco? She was a great woman. She was the reason you got your shoes dirty." The smile fades and his face turns blankness, "Remember when she told you of her faunus brethren? These little discussions shaped your goals and molded your words." The blank face morphs into that of rage, "Remember when they killed her? Remember when the dogs bit her too hard and the streets flowed of blood? Remember when you ruined your own life?" The beast looks deep into my heart, examining every vein, every muscle that may cast a shadow on my soul. "What will you do? What can you do? I was locked within you for five years and I did not see anything that can help you change anything." He grins, showing his sharp teeth, "Do you even remember your name?"

"Malcolm" I whisper.

"I can not hear you."

"Malcolm." I say.

"One more time.

"Stop." I say, fists clenched. "Go away."

He frowns. "My, you are finally fighting back against me." Though he frowns behind my back, his eyes fill with amusement, "If only you are like this all the time."

"Hey." I turn my eyes toward the voice to see Luther in his blue uniform. I've never noticed until now that the middle button of his shirt is missing. "Are you done gathering food yet?"

"Y-yeah." I reply weakly.

"Well come on then, the girls and I are done as well." He begins to walk toward the exit but stops mid stride as he sees that my head is tilted slightly toward the ground, as if grief had stiffened my neck. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, everything is fine."

He sighs. He is a very stubborn man. "The grimm are attracted to negative emotions, man. You gotta tell us when you're feeling down before it gets out of control. We can't always expect miracles like last night to happen every time we get mad or sad." He walks closer to me and places his cold palm on my shoulder. "We're all we've got now, we need to help each other if we're gonna live through this."

At this very moment, he annoys me. I am well aware that he only has the best intentions to say such things, but his unoriginal words seem as if they are mocking my intelligence and my character as a whole, telling me that I am not a good person. Telling me that I am selfish.

"I'm okay Luther, really. I have just been thinking about how we are going to be able to get out of here." I lie.

"We'll worry about that later. Now, we have to get some food to eat and water to drink. Rescue will come soon, I'm sure of it." Luther draws a half smile on his face to reassure me and it does, just a bit. Reassurance will not help me kill the beast.

The cool air my body had been accustomed to for the past few minutes slowly fades from my skin as the damp air of the outside world embraces my body. Kiana sits on a small set of stairs from a neighboring apartment complex alongside Cadea as Vanya stands directly in front of the store,turning her body toward me when I come out.

"What did you get?" She asks me, her voice a dark shade of grey.

"A few bags of chips and ten bottles of blueberry soda pop."

"It took that long to get that little?"

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize for something like that." She begins to turn around.

"I'm sorry for what happened last night."

She stops and her eyes move toward me as her body remains unmoved. Her eyes match the colors of her voice. There is blood within her iris, but it trickles slowly across like that of a nearly empty river. "There's no need for that either." Her eyebrows lower and her eyes fall toward the floor for half a second before centering toward me again. "I said Hades's name and the hounds were sent. It was simple as that." She turns around, looking towards the academy in the distance. The frozen dragon ornament remains on the top. "Let's go home."

Vanya tells Kiana and Cadea to come as Luther and I walk toward them to prepare our journey back. If only the sun is out. The air now is perfect for a stroll. However, a sudden vibration shakes the floor.

I look down the street. There a woman carrying a man and a large axe on her back, running with all of her strength to escape the five beasts behind her. Four wolf like creatures charging at her on all fours as one slithers beside it, reaching beyond the buildings it towers beside. The lady sees us, I can tell. Her eyes change as she looks at us. She closes her eyes and halts to a stop, gathering dust around her feet as she skids across the cement.

The snake envelopes itself around her as the wolves run pass, trusting that their large ally will rid of the pest. The woman disappears behind the body of the snake and the masked faces of the wolves that charge us.

I can not move. The beasts charge with frightening speed, my arms are light but my feet are lighter. Even as that is the case, my muscles are locked in place. I know I can run with all my might, but Cadea is weighed by her child. Kiana and Vanya and Luther are not willing to leave her behind. I must stay. I can not let her perish.

Luther raises his shotgun, the barrel pointed directly at the group that runs toward us, his eye down the sight, part of his hand on his cheek. Kiana and Vanya raises theirs' in unison, eyes up front, down the sight, straight ahead, focused and still. Cadea raises her pistol with two hands, somewhat hesitating but still pointing the gun at the wolves. I begin to raise mine but the sudden crack from Kiana's rifle startles me. Vanya follows with a burst of cracks, the blue flashes spouting from her weapon. Luther waits silently for his turn and Cadea stands in silence and idleness with him.

I am finally able to raise my pistol and point it ahead, but my arms are too light. The sight in front of my eyes are shaking very violently as I choose which wolf to shoot. Vanya and kiana continue their barrages. Most of the bullets hit the wolves, but some from Kiana misses due to the speed. Some of the wolves flinch, some lose their footing and trip slightly before they recover. One wolf falls down and buries its claw on its face as a stray bullet hits its eye. The other three continue to charge and are close enough for Luther to join. Vanya's gun clicks, out of bullets. Luther fires a shot before her clip drops on the floor. Crack, pump, crack, pump, like clockwork.

The wolves flinch harder and one falls as it's mask falls off and one shotgun blast decimates its face. Cadea fires at the grimm with the broken eye while it is still down and Kiana helps Luther control the herd. Vanya pulls back a slide on her gun, she puts the sights to her eyes, she holds down the trigger, the bullets rain down on the two still charging. Another falls as its leg falls off and another shotgun blast to its chest ends its misery. Luther puts his gun sideways and reaches into his pockets for the ammunition.

"Reloading!." He yells, implying a request for support.

Kiana's clip falls to the floor as well. "Reloading." She says in a softer voice as she reaches into her jacket for another clip.

Cadea's clip falls as well. Vanya is the only person firing at the running wolf. "Will ya fire at it?" Vanya yells at me. My finger remains still. The wolf flinches slightly but its speed remains the same. "Fire, Malcolm!"

My finger beats the trigger repeatedly in a fit of rage. My finger was my arm and the trigger were their heads. The bullets bleed out of my gun, my arm remains stiff enough to limit the jump but relaxed enough to aim. In my fit of rage, I did not see what was happening properly. The sight would be on the wolf, white, on its eyes, white, on its legs, white, on it's empty socket, white, on it's bleeding socket, white, on its neck, white. Eventually, my gun clicks and I press a button on the side of my handle as my other hand reaches into my pants to pull out a clip and slide it under. It clicks smoothly and I pull back the top so the bullet can enter the barrel.

I stop. In front of me lies a fallen grimm. It's legs still twitching, its eye a gaping cave that travels toward its interior. Luther cocks his gun and fires one more shot into the cave, closing it in for good with rocks of red and black. The body of the wolves lie in front of us as the one in the back with its gaping eye finally still. I look up. The snake is still there, this time, two. One white, one black.

The woman jumps from building to building, dodging the snakes' bites. The woman's eyes are wide with fear and anger. The white snake carries the man's body in its mouth, his arms trying desperately to pull himself out of the mouth. She jumps at it, the black one moves in front of her, taking her arm as it feasts on her recklessness. She falls on the opposite building as the white one moves its neck upwards to swallow the man whole. His scream echoes in the air before fading into the neck of the beast. There is silence, a terrible silence. The black snake looks at us with its blank red eyes. I put one foot back, prepared to run away for my life, my dreams, my hopes.

The white one suddenly jerks its neck upwards, its mouth open. It remains in that position for a while, as if reaching to the goddesses, the maidens, the magic man, asking for forgiveness, searching for an answer to why they have forsaken it, why it was born unto this world as such a vile creature. Smoke begins to escape its mouth and a small trail of red liquid falls from its eyes. As the trail edges from toward the end of the cheek, the creature falls. The black one averts its gaze back to the woman on the roof, blaming her for the death of its comrade. It charges toward her, bringing the entire building down as its head rams onto the roof.

The dust fills the air and small debris scatter its way toward us. The rocks rain as the dust begins to lift. The snake lays still, the woman does not emerge from the rubble. There is no sound, the silence is deadly and I wait as one of them rise triumphant over the other but neither moves. No one has won. The two lie, heads beneath the debris, heroes of their species.

Cadea walks toward the rubble. "Where are you going?" I ask.

"She could still be alive, we have to help." she tells me.

Unfortunately, she did not live. She managed to stab it in the middle of its mouth before it crushed the back of her head in with its ramming attack. Cadea closed the woman's open eyes to help her rest. The snake was still twitching, but Luther's gun helped it sleep for good.

The axe on Vanya's back clinks as she walks up the stairs of our run down building. She took it out of the snake's mouth because she thought it would prove to be useful in the future or when we encounter another hunter or huntress.

As I enter the door of our apartment, I feel a bit of comfort as I walk through the cold, familiar hallway where our rooms lie. I follow the others into the family room straight ahead and sit in the right hand corner by the window. Luther sits and pulls out the shells in his pockets, counting each one. Cadea and Kiana count the amount of clips they have and Vanya does as well. I do not feel like doing so. I just know that I have enough.

Vanya puts her clips on the floor and takes the axe off of her back. She looks at the blood soaked blade and the red hand prints on its handle before placing it on the floor.

"Hey, give me one of those sodas that you got." She says to me.

I reach into my backpack, pulling out one bottle and walking to her. She takes the bottle out of my hand and opens the metal cap with her teeth before gulping down one fourth of the bottle.

"You called me by my name while you were shooting, weren't you?" I ask her softly.

She puts the bottle down and her eyes glare up at me. "Yeah, what of it?" I say nothing. Her eyes fall onto the floor. "You we'ren't doing a damn thing, I had to get your attention somehow."

"You're right, just don't make it a habit."

"I won't."

I walk away. I did not feel like bickering with her either. Not because I am tired from all that had happened, but because I know she is right and I do not want to lie now.

I go back to my corner and pull out a bottle from my backpack. I pry the cap off with my teeth but it takes longer for me because my teeth hurt when I try it. Once opened, I take one swig. Bright blueberry, what a lovely taste for a soda. I put the bottle down and look at the bottle. One fourth is gone. I move the bottle around to see the liquid swirl for a bit. Though the room is darker than the convenience store was, the light remains in the liquid, just dim.

Home. I would not call this run down building we are forced to stay in "home", but what do I know. To a faunus who lives on the street, this building may be the best home they will every have. I lived in a well-to-do orphanage and was adopted by a middle class family. My definition of home is pampered, but it does not have to be. Every faunus and human deserves to live in a house such as mine. No person deserves to lie on the cold hard floor only to be looked upon by colder eyes. Either way, it does not matter now. Everyone in this city is equal. We all suffer together. In a way, it is beautiful.


	4. The End Of A Rebellion

My life has been one long war against the monstrous man who rules above, who cares not for his fellow people but for fame and wealth. I never listened to the lady at the orphanage, I stayed up late and went outside secretly when living with my new parents. These trivial rebellions have trained me to civilly disobey a larger authority, one that promotes bigotry and turns a cheek to discrimination as long as it does not hinder their profits. This parent, I can not tolerate.

He has proved to be a worthy opponent of equality and the bigots stood under his roof, safe from the backlash of the mean boys and girls who were spit upon by the little devils in his house. However, he has won. I, the general, had made a major mistake of putting instances of rage and anger in front of the clear rationality required to lead. I am responsible for the failure of the Civil Rights Movement.

Anco, you fool. You must not get too close to them. They are dangerous! Do you not hear the snarls, their barks, their slobber as the foam rushes down their mouth. Back away! That man can not hold on to the leash much longer. It is becoming loose. It is coming. Anco! Gone. The monster had gotten her.

Her beautiful hair covered in seas of red, her smooth neck within the mouth of the beast that was supposedly tamed. I can not blame your death for my irrationality. Anco. You were the one person I could truly call a friend. You listened to my every words even as white noise filled my head as I listened to yours. You were wonderful. How can I ever be mad at you? I am the monster. I am the untamed beast that killed you. I should know. I am responsible for the deaths of the people who live in the building I lie on. The White Fang is the child I never wanted. I wish I had shot it while still in the cradle.

I wake up. The start of another day, the nearing of the end. I am becoming tired of waking up to the same dreams. I miss Anco, the scene still saddens me, but I feel as if my mind has gone numb to it all and the even is now seen as an inconvenient reminder of my past rather than a haunting nightmare. I know my mistake, I know what I must do to fix it, reminders of it does not help.

These dreams are the beast's method of communication. It loves to toy with my guilt and I wish that it would stop. Its smile annoys me. Its look of amusement every time it glances at me burns a sharp blue pain into my veins. What a nuisance. If only I can kill it from within myself for good, smother it as it sleeps, but to do so would kill me too.

I wish I can kill it for now it hurts me regularly. As I walk through the hallway, the beast stabs me once more the more I look at the buildings around me. He began yesterday night, when I thought that the girl in the family portrait looked very familiar and I looked into the drawers next to my bed to find more pictures of her adolescence and stories of her adulthood. Maria Nimu. She lived in these streets, training under a brooding hunter by the name of Joan Kasnyik. She wished to one day be skilled enough to join Beacon Academy so she herself can be a huntress. What ambition, what dedication, what spirit, what misfortune. She carried a large axe as her weapon and was planning on applying to Beacon after the festival.

"Another body to bear the burden." It snickers. "How many more must fall before you finally see the blood you spilled?"

Since yesterday, the buildings of old, the happy memories, they simply cut and beat and choke and stab. They no longer warm or comfort, but burn and smolder. The little faunus boy is in a cottage thousands of miles away from his home. The adult woman hides in a corner as she hears of the news about her husband's fall by the hands of the terrorists responsible. The adolescent girl lies on the ground, questioning the foolishness of her actions as the monsters draw near her to feast, to tear. The car no longer mattered, nothing did. I am the killer. The bullet just hit today, but I pulled the trigger five years ago, not realizing my fault until the flash had already subsided.

As I walk into the family room, the pain remains, but lighter because of the sight of Cadea humming her tune once more while patting her child within. Her song still glistens bright as the corners of a Ruby and the maternal spirit melts the outer shell of the pain from within. I can not help but smile, just a bit.

I sit down in my usual corner away from the others and pull out a bag of potato chips from my bags. It is not a healthy way to begin a day but it does not matter to me anymore. The damage has been done and all i can do is live to it as the uncertain consequences lay hidden away from my sight.

I open the bag and the smell of artificial family picnics and false happiness floats into my nose. Ah, barbeque, my favorite flavor.

As I pick out the chips with my right hand and place the flat shapes into my mouths, my attention is focused on Kiana. She has her earbuds in her ears and is staring blankly out of a window into the silver skies. I wondered where she came from, if she was born in this neighborhood, where she learned how to use her rifle so well, but I did not want to ask such things now. They were too personal and I lack the energy to deal with such matters now, but I wanted to ask her something to distract myself. I look at her ears. There has been a question about the ears of faunuses that I have wondered about up to now.

"Hey, Kiana." I wait for her to take off her earbuds and look at me, "Can you wiggle your ears without touching them?"

A light rosy complexion appears on her cheeks. "Why do you want to know all of a sudden?"

"I had a faunus friend back when I was in college that would unconsciously wiggle her ears whenever she got excited. I just want to know if all faunuses can do that."

She looks at me blankly. I turn to the others who also join her gaze at me. Though they mean no ill will, their dumbfounded expressions irritate me. I want to leave the room, but I do not. She finally looks at the floor, her head tilted at an angle so I can clearly see. The husky-like ears stay still for a while and the others watch her in silence to see what will happen next. Her body begins to shake slightly and her ears wiggle left and right. She allows a large sigh to burst from her mouth. Less than two seconds of ear wiggling uses up this much energy, I never knew. Cadea giggles slightly as a rose garden blooms on Kiana's cheeks.

"Wiggling your ears for that long tires you out?" Vanya asks in a voice half teasing and half insulting..

"I assume that humans moving their own ears is much easier then?" Kiana retorts.

"Hell no, I just thought it would've been easy for you since his friend does it whenever she gets excited which is probably a lot; right?"

"Yeah." I say softly as my throat begins to dry. "She got really excited easily." My chest hurts. "Every day, she'd tell me a story she learned in class about some hero or heroine who saved humanity and kept the grimm from destroying us all." A desert forms in the back of my nostril. "I wasn't too interested in them, but her passion for them always attracted my attention to whatever she was talking about." the dam within my eyes crack. "She didn't deserve the fate given to her. None of it was supposed to happen."

The beast is a clever one. He had managed to hurt me enough so that I may bleed, but I stop myself before the others could see blood. Every part of my body is still dry or hurt, but the dam has been fixed and that is all that matters.

"She was really important to you, huh?" Luther asks, his voice cautious about treading my personal waters for good reason.

"No, not really." I lie. "I barely knew her." The lies break through my teeth. "I just liked the way she told stories and I missed our little conversations." The beast resides as he watches me break my own dam. "I just don't think she deserved to-" My mind goes white for half a second. I come back. "Lose her home to the white fang. Her father worked hard for her to keep that house."

The others were silent for a while as they take in my story. The pain in my chest intensifies greatly as I worry about the plausibility of it all. Cadea raises her head at my direction, "During times like these, everyone has no choice but to leave. You should just be glad that she is alive." Her bright smile cuts open my heart and mercilessly rips out the darkness from within. The beast joins her, but I keep it away.

"Yeah. Once I get out of here, I'm going to find where she lives and visit her, just to see if she is all right."

"Maybe we should all visit her." Luther says suddenly. "She sounds pretty interesting."

Vanya laughs, "Aw Luther, you just think she sounds kinda cute, dontcha? C'mon, a faunus girl that wiggles her ears whenever she gets excited, that's probably the only thing you want to see from her."

"N-no, I just think that her passion for stories is rather fascinating and that I'd like to hear some of them."

"Yeah right you sly dog, just admit it, she's so cute you want to scoop her off the street and take her to a church."

Their conversation about my imaginary Anco fades from my attention. I do not know why I lied so fiercely. Maybe I just wanted something to grasp, to live for, to wake up to. I think I was in denial when I thought of us as friends. I think I just wanted to see her again. It is working, I see her talking to Luther, telling him one of her many stories, going to dinner, having fun. Then, Luther asks me for advice, I yell at him, he yells back, we argue, we fight, I win, I lose her. How fitting. It might have been better that she died, but I've already painted her image. I must continue from the portrait.

four knocks on the door interrupts everything as the world remains silent. I look at the hallway, everyone does. I look at the others, them at each other. Another four knocks. Nothing. Another four.

"Hey, can you please help me?" the voice on the other side asks. They know we are here.

Luther points at Vanya and Kiana, then to the closet where our arms are. He looks at Cadea and places an imaginary gun behind him. He looks at me and requests my gun. I pull it from the backpack and place it in his hand as the others do as Luther tells them to.

He signals me to follow him and Vanya leans against the wall near the hallway entry and Kiana hides in her own room. Luther and I walk to the door, his gun hidden, our lives behind our backs as we hope that Cadea and Vanya knows what to do if our lives are in peril.

"Who is it?" He asks loudly since there is no peephole to see.

"Please let us in, we just need a place to stay for the night." the voice on the other side explains. A man

"How did you know we were in?"

"I saw the back of someone's head through the third floor window when I looked up." The man says. Though Luther's head did not move, I know his eyes turn to me.

"Do you have any weapons on you?"

"Just a fire axe I found.."

"Do you have any of food?"

"Enough for me so I won't have to freeload."

"There's no one else beside you, right?"

He is silent for a brief moment. "No, it's just me."

Luther turns to me, "He's by himself." he whispers, his voice shaking a bit.

"I know, but he might be lying." I tell him.

Luther looks around for a quick second, as if he thinks he will find his answers through the sheets of Kiana's bed and the walling paint on the walls. "I'm gonna open the door, stay sharp in case he tries to fight."

"Got it."

Luther turns back around and opens the door without any hesitation. The man before us is an aged man whose dim, weary eyes shine brightly. He has a scruffy beard on his face and a backpack on that appears to be weighing him down greatly. The axe he mentioned is on his left arm, hanging without energy.

"Thank you very much." He says.

"Don't mention it, come in." Luther replies.

The man walks into the hallway, his eyes shine as if he had never walked into a house before in his life. He walks slowly into the living room, looking at Vanya as she holds her rifle with both hands in a relaxed manner. He walks to the family portrait and stands in front of it. He stares at the image as Kiana walks into the room. Though his statement was silent, I can hear the one word he mutters under his breath and beneath his throat as he gazed into the picture. "Family".

He turns around and sits down under the portrait, glancing at each of us before finally speaking. "My name is Joseph Yok. My group was attacked by grimm two nights ago when one of our members killed another over a personal conflict. I don't know what happened to the others since I ran away while they fought off the grimm. I just need a safe place to stay for tonight. I promise I'll go tomorrow morning." His voice is deep and filled with gravel that shakes as he talks.

"Were you able to find a place to stay yesterday night?" Vanya questions him.

"I got about four hours of sleep before I was awoken by some grimm that were circling around me. They tried to attack me but I was able to run away." His eyes fall gently to the floor. "I ran with all the might my body could spare and when I was about to just drop, some woman in black and a man in white lured them away from me. I looked back but they screamed 'keep running' and so I did for a very, very long time."

I do not know how believable Joseph's story is, but he looks much too harmless to actually be dangerous. His arms are too tired to hold his axe much less swing it and his pale complexion makes it seem like he has already fainted from exhaustion. He begins to breath heavily and it appears as if he is about to faint now.

"I'm sorry, but can I borrow one of your beds? I'm just too tired to even talk."

"Of course." Cadea says, "Sleep in mine; it's the first door on the right."

"Thank you very much madam." He puts his flat cap on the floor by his axe and drops his backpack by it before he stands up and follows Cadea.

"Sir, your backpack-" Cadea begins before Joseph interrupts her.

"Leave it. I'm too old and tired to worry about anything anymore. Hell, you can even kill me in my sleep and I won't come back to haunt you." He chuckles at his own statement. We all remain silent as the wind howls along with him at his act of jest.

I sit in my corner of the room and I see the unrest everywhere I look. Luther leans beside the wall in front of me. Kiana sits next to Cadea as she rubs her own baby for comfort. Though he is sleeping in Cadea's room and Vanya is watching him to ensure he does nothing dangerous, I can not help but think of him as an enemy to us all. His loose behavior when it came to talking about murder heavily implies that he has gone mad from the world he had been dropped into, that the darkness of the grimm has enveloped all his humanity and hope.

Kiana walks over to his backpack and looks inside it. She shuffles his belongings around for a while as Cadea and Luther look in slight disapproval, but not saying anything about her act. She lifts her head to Luther, "He does not have much food or water; only four granola bars and two cans of soda."

He looks at my back pack as well as his own. "We should give him some of ours when he leaves."

"I don't trust him." I say out loud. The others look at me. I could not help it, the beast pushed the words out of my mouth.

"Why don't you trust him?" Cadea questions me.

"He looks deranged and insane." He is too tired to think straight. "His trauma could make him a very dangerous person." His bitter past still controls him today. "And he looks as if he does not care about anyone or anything anymore: he's become a sociopath." His dead passion makes him bitter of everyone and everything. Dear God, a mirror.

"You are judging rather harshly toward a man you have just met and irrationally as well since it seems that you have forgotten where we are." Kiana retorts.

"What do you mean?"

"The buildings around us are dead and the streets no longer breath life, but house the dead as a mass graveyard. The grimm have infested every corner of the neighborhood and those who survive are either exhausted, grieving, melancholic, hurt, fear death, or will die. Those of weak will shall fall under the pressure and lose all hope while those of strong will shall morph into a different entity to maintain their sanity. That is why I listen to music, Cadea sings to her child, Luther draws in his room, Vanya adds more images to her arms, but all you do is sit there in your corner and ponder of your past, so deep in the darkest depths of your thoughts that you probably had never realized that Luther draws or that Vanya paints. Now, you do not even trust your fellow man. Malcolm, it appears you have turned into the sociopath."

The beast hears Beelzebub's name and stirs restlessly from within. "What did I say about using that name?"

"There it is, your denial returns. You hate yourself for your past actions so much that you do not want anyone else to remind you of it. We are prohibited from talking about your speeches, your campaigns, and even simply calling you by your name. You can only tell yourself that the past never happened for so long before you lose yourself in your own self pity."

"Do you really think I am that pathetic?"

"It depends, Malcolm, how much are you willing to change without actually doing anything? You want things to be different so you paint over the ugly colors with your own. Your little trips of escapism is ridiculously pathetic; in fact, that faunus girl you told us about is most likely not even alive like you wanted her to be."

I reach into my pants to pull out the knife. It glistens beautifully. "And what about you Kiana? Did you enjoy your life before this?"

"Where is this coming from?" The first swing only grazes her arm.

"You sit in the back of the room, isolating yourself with your music and only talk to us when you know that you trust us. It is almost as if your introvertedness is a defense system. Did someone hurt you before?"

"That is none of your concern and completely irrelevant to our conversation." She backs away, scared, cautious.

I assume that Luther and Cadea are saying something, most likely to me, but it is simply white noise. "Your ability to expertly hold a gun and shoot it with pinpoint accuracy intrigues me. Who taught you to shoot and why did you want to learn? Was it for self defense, for a future goal? Was it for revenge? Was it to fulfill a fantasy of power? Was it to feel great on top of the bodies of those who hurt you badly?"

She is silent. Her eyes are wide as her pupil thins itself to a speck within a sea of white. I have struck a vital organ. She is remembering, she is bleeding.

The blood, the fear, the anger, the embarrassment, it is great, it is exhilarating I want to see more, I want to swim in a river of red. I want to bring Adam in front of me and stab him in his disgusting eyes. For ruining my movement, my revolution. My rebellion has ended because of you. Take that mask off, show me the fear in your eyes you coward! Show me yourself so I may kill you and end the madness once and for all! I will bring equality to everyone, I will bring forth a revolution!

I raise my arm, I open my mouth to swing more, but the rush ceased to a halt as my face hurt once more like from two days before. I float up to the ceiling as my head hits the floor. What a familiar feeling. I feel my sanity slip back into my mind as my body embraces the cold ground once more. What have I done?

My hands push me back up as I look once more into the eyes of a flowing red river. It is surprisingly calm, not running with rage, but flowing slightly faster than neutral. The river looks down, its yellow eyes filled with melancholy as they face someone they respect.

"No looking back policy, remember? You thought of it." Vanya growls at me.

I look to Kiana, her eyes heavier, dimmer. The beast sighs from within, dissatisfied with how little she hurts. I want to apologize, I want to make her stop crying within, but I say nothing. I do not want to hurt her more than she already had. "Yeah, you are right." she whispers, her voice shaking. A sharp pain hit my chest as I hear her voice. "I am young and stupid. Emotions are still a new concept to me. But I fix my mistakes." She looks at me, her eyes a pure shade of black. "Do you like hunting down Mockingbirds, Malcolm? If so, then I'm your first damn catch." She looks into my eyes for a while more. She wants to see nothing, but her eyebrow raises slightly. She sees something.

She trudges to her room afterwards, each tiny footstep I hear, strangling me. "Why didn't you stop?" Luther asks, his voice heavy.

"I guess-" I open the cage for the beast. He hesitates, he looks up at my eyes as I tell him he can come out. He walks beyond the cage, free as the wind, free at last. "I guess I was liking it." I do not need to look at the others to see their confusion and anger. "I've been silent for so long, I just wanted to win something."

"You talk all the time though." Cadea says in a voice of foolish innocence and ignorance.

I hesitate. I do not want to tell them, but I must. I swallow what little pride that remained in my body. "I lied. I didn't want to hurt anyone ever again. The beast had to be locked up."

"What beast? You're not making any sense." Luther asks, impatient.

"I'm tired of lying. I just don't care about anything anymore. He took away everything from me the moment he sat on that pedestal for the revolution. I didn't want anyone else to see the wrong mirror again, so I hid and kept silent about my beast."

Vanya looks at me with her red eyes once more, the river is still, it is not moving for once. "You never should've done that, man."

"I am no 'man', call me by the name my mother gave me at birth, the one I thought I could out do because of all her hard work for a failed revolt."

"Everyone has their demons, Malcolm, but we can't look back. If we look back, we can't move forward."

I look down. I do not recognize this woman. Vanya is never this way for she is rash, vulgar, and quick to anger. She had just hit me not too long ago, yet she speaks in such depth that does not belong to her character.

"Look, Malcolm." Vanya begins, her voice serious. "I'm a gangster. I stole, I lied, I even killed, but I'm not a damn idiot. I made stupid choices because I thought that was the only way I could survive here and I was very wrong. I never want any kid to have to kill another kid, even if the family she's getting into is a decent one. I'm trying to make sure you don't become the kid who made a mistake."

"You mentioned my deceased parents before." I remind her.

Her eyes shift to the left. "Well, I never said I was always reasonable." Her eyes return to me. "Everyone lets their emotions out once in awhile and that's okay, man.. It's when you keep it in all the time that you start getting problems."

Her voice is rough, her street accent is strong and the vulgarity in her voice grates the air like boots in gravel, but I am soothed by it. Most likely from the hint of failed dreams that float in her voice as she spoke to me, the same as mine. I have decided.

I stand up and walk down the hallway to Kiana's room, but I hear a voice in her room. A young woman, pained, covered in guilt. A man, soothing. I look into Cadea's room, empty. I hear Joseph's voice in Kiana's room further down the hall.

"People have demons and his probably came out. It's normal. I lashed out at my group all the time because they always complained about how bad this neighborhood is when the streets have always been my home." His voice like a singer, serenading pedestrians as they pass. I turn around, but remain idle when I hear his voice again. "He just doesn't understand but neither do you, so don't hate him, okay." My foster parents are kind folks, but they have always been too busy with work for me to fully respect. I wish Joseph had lived with us while I was growing up.

I walk back to the family room. There is nothing more that I can say to her, Joseph had already shown her the light in my darkness. I sit in my usual corner and look aimlessly out the window.

"Why didn't you go in?" Vanya asks.

"Joseph is there talking to her. He's better at it." I reply.

I hear footsteps in the hallway coming to the living room. Too soon. I hear Kiana's soft footsteps entering and try not to make any eye contact with her. I can tell that she briefly glanced at me before losing interest in my existence.

"How was your rest?" Luther asks Joseph with absolute sincerity in his voice.

"Bliss. I have not slept that well in years, even though it was brief." A short pause, he is most likely looking out of a window to see the time. "My, the sun is still out. Is it okay if I stay until nightfall?"

"It's dangerous at night, Mr. Yok." Cadea informs him, "Please stay until tomorrow morning."

Joseph laughs, "It's quite all right ma'am, I've been so used to walking around at night that I can't stand the sun. The only reason why I tried to sleep last night was because I just felt tired all of a sudden after Richard killed Jenelle."

"First time seeing someone get killed?" Vanya asks him, a hint of pretentiousness in her voice.

"Yeah."

"I understand, the first time I saw someone get killed, I couldn't sleep properly for a whole week."

"Well that is to be expected from a Slit member. They are nice people, but they do have their dark side that makes many fear them." I hear the his body shift positions on the floor. "I'll never forget the day when a Slit member killed two Cagers who were mugging me and gave me the money he found in their wallets and some of his own money." He sighs. "Kindness such as that should exist in these parts without the need for violence to enforce it."

"Well yeah, the Slits were formed as a defensive family meant to protect members from the more power hungry gangs on the streets like the Cagers that you just mentioned." Vanya responds.

"The Cagers are one of the worst gangs in this neighborhood. I remembered this one time when I arrested this boy, he was no older than thirteen or fourteen, for killing two women who were trying to get back to the main center of Beacon City. I asked him why and he said he did it because he wanted kill his teacher but didn't want to get caught and thought that he could've gotten away with killing those two women. He did it to blow off some damn steam!" Luther rants, his voice shaking again, the dam in his eyes also breaking.

"Ignorance is the true evil that makes human sno different from grimm. That child is a victim of it, yes, but if we assume that he is purely evil, we will become its victim as well. We need to know of his past, his uprising." The beast says. I catch myself when the room is silent once more and the eyes of the others shine on my back. _Ah, this feeling, I miss it._ The beast sighs. I do too. I turn my head toward them. "We need to know more about his life so we can show him the value of human benevolence toward one another and to prevent other transformations such as this from occurring."

The audience is small, the cheers are inaudible, the justice is clear and it rings loudly, rippling through the sea of sorrow and misery. Hopelessness subsides as a brighter future pierces through the skies. The light is minute, but it is a good beginning. I have returned. Malcolm Rustin has come back. I allow the floodgates to open as the river begins to flow. I see the children, I see my dreams, I let it pour and pour, and pour. "Those kids do not deserve such a future, they deserve so much more. We must end the injustice, we must bring back unity to our species."

What continued were conversations of equality and past glories as Joseph spoke more about his life as a soldier of the War of Remnant, meeting his wife, dancing with her by "hopping" around as if they were wrestlers ballroom clothing, falling into debt due to robberies, and eventually, homelessness. He still smiled, he still laughed. Such strength inspires me, after the death of his newborn son, his frail lover, he continues to find new light in every corner.

Joseph eventually left once the sun fell before anyone could have caught it. He profoundly refused Luther's offering for food and water, saying that us young folks needed it more than he did, especially with Cadea's little person in her belly. He left, flat cap on his head, axe on his left hand, his sorrows on his right, smiling over nothing that he had and everything he has.

Since then, we had been sitting in the same spots of the living room for a while now, for no reason. We sat in silence for perhaps three decades and I had not even noticed when Kiana told me to bathe so I can leep early for the morning food run tomorrow. Her eyes were a comforting blank hue when she looked at me, but I can tell that the disappointment remains, albeit slightly.

I am well aware as I now lie on my bed that my rebellion has ended. The man within is no longer a beast. He washes himself, he dresses himself, he walks upright, and he sings the anthem of freedom. What I begin now is a march for equality and unity, the roots of my revolt, the inner glow of it all.


	5. A Dear Friend

The hills are red with the smell of freshly picked strawberries enveloping the air, the sound of the coastal breeze echoes throughout the sky, reaching up beyond the clouds that attempt to block out the sun with all their might. There is a tree in the distance-Oak in all of its beauty- stretching its great branches toward the sea as it lies in the blankets of red provided to it by loving mother that caresses all life under her breast.

From below, I hear the scatter of sand being tossed into the air as men, women, and children of different families frolic about, mingling with brights smiles and joyous laughter that warms the heart and flutters the chest. The people are just below, they are so near, it is within my grasp.

"Hey." a gentle voice suddenly floats from my left-the voice of a child with its high pitch and playful undertone.

I need not turn to know the woman who has haunted me for the past five years. It is always a mixed blessing to see her again, to hear that gentle blanket wrap around my ears before the vocal strings that play its melodies are inevitably torn apart by a stray beast.

The feeling is somewhat mutual, I realize as my eyes fall onto her's. They are riddled of guilt, as if they belong to a woman who had accidently killed her husband with her own hands- a dimmer shade of blue than the bright summer skies that I remembered within her irises.

"Don't blame yourself, Anco." I say, attempting my best to comfort her and alleviate the guilt squirms within her.

"Don't be the better man. It's my fault that you said those aggressive things and my fault that you mistrusted everyone for the longest time." She sees my mouth about to move. "Don't lie to me Malcolm, the image of my death is always in your mind before you become angry."

I hate it when someone says I am lying. It especially irritates me when they are right. After her death, I locked myself away. I killed Malcolm and kept the man that carried the spirit, but it was not permanent. I trusted no one, I respected no living soul, myself included.

"Why have you chosen now to talk to me?" I ask her. "That scene has always followed every happy memory I recalled with you. Why choose to finally interact with me after such a long period of misery?"

"I don't know." Her eyes gently avoids mine and fall onto a lone Daisy in the forest of red grass. "I didn't want you to be haunted by that moment either, but I had no power over your nightmares. Now, it's different now." She looks back at my eyes, a sky beginning to form just a bit in her eyes. "I think the old Malcolm came back."

"That doesn't explain why we are currently talking." I am aware that I have returned. I let the man out of his cage, but he does not explain this world.

The clouds come once again, the sky is dim once more. "I think you're going to die soon."

That is an absolutely ludicrous statement. Magic exists, yes, but there is no way that the magic in Remnant can be as expandable as to allow foresight over one's mortality. "How could you possibly know?" I question.

"Do you believe in fate?"

"I believe in an individual carving their own path without the interference of a third party spirit."

She smiles somewhat bitterly, as if hearing a child repeating a statement from his abusive father. "Still scientific and cold as ever."

"Our lives being controlled on a string is a ridiculous concept to believe in the first place. Life is simply not worth living if it is set out for us from birth."

It almost appears as if her chest has caved down on itself. "I'm sorry Malcolm, I don't know how to explain this all. There's a very good reason why you're here, but I don't think you'll believe me."

"Tell me."

"You miss me." I raise my eyebrow slightly, she sees my gesture. "I didn't come before because you weren't thinking about the good times we had, you were thinking about how inconvenient my death was."

I can feel the floodgates in my heart opening. My chest hurts, my throat becomes dry-the result of a demon clawing its way out to finally reveal itself. "I could have talked to you this whole time?"

She nods slightly.

"I could have had conversations like these with you?"

She nods slighter.

"Every night if I wanted to?"

"Yes."

My eyes fall onto the red grass in pain. I can no longer look at her in her eyes. The beast was but a dirty man, bitter from his imprisonment. The true entities responsible for my suffering were the damned devils within my own head. The beast is from the heart, the soul, the spirit that embodies all my hopes and dreams while the devils had always been there, secretly behind every decision I make.

The pride that drove me to become an advocator for a cause my parents failed to achieve. The rage that ran through my veins after I saw the scene of Anco's demise on television. My lust for attention feeding my constant rebellions against authority. The great pleasure I received from bringing up Kiana's past regrets and bad memories. The devils in all of us had taken control of me my entire life and I had never realized.

I am terrible. I want to jump off the cliff and let the sea carry me to eternal slumber. I do not deserve to walk upon the innocent red grass, to talk to my dear friend. A fiend such as I.

"Malcolm, I know you are wondering how you could possibly have been thinking such terrible things, but you did." The river begins to rush through my eyes. "There was no possible way I could've come here when you were thinking such things." The river rushes through, tearing down dams, trees, wildlife, destroying all in its path and falling off the edge of the earth. "Malcolm?"

I show her my face. "I am so so sorry. I am not a bad person, I swear, I swear on my life, Anco. You're not a tool. I- I love you. Cross my heart and stake it through, I've always loved you Anco."

She smiles slightly, the clouds begin to disperse and gleams of light shine through "Everyone is terrible, they're just so on different levels." She puts her arms behind her back. "I love you too Malcolm and I forgive you. Hell, if anyone, I should apologize." She scratches her cheek with her left index finger. "I was the one that ruined your career after all."

"Nonsense, you are completely innocent. Please tell me how I can make it up to you." She opens her mouth briefly to restate her guilt, but she sees my eyes and appears to have changed her mind.

"Well, I still believe that you're going to die soon. I guess it would be really nice to see you influence other people like you did in your old days before that whole militarization speech."

"Then I will do it. I will continue my past legacy toward unity and equality."

She smiles brightly, the sky returns. The sun rises behind the oak tree she stands in front of, but it rises too fast. Day and night falls faster than I could possibly catch. Days flash by before I can blink, but the world remains at the same speed. The sky begins to glare into my eyes with its angry eyes, the beam blinds me as the Oak tree and the red grass begins to fade. Anco's face becomes less clear. I reach out, my arms extended in desperation and foolish hope that my mind is kind enough to allow me to stay. Anco waves at me, still smiling.

"I'll see you soon." Anco says, her voice still soft and distant like that of a child in a cave with no entrance. And she is gone, like an angel's kiss.


	6. Path of Revelation

I wake up with a hint of moisture on the side of my eye. The burden of heroic actions meant to show how one is a righteous and just individual. If only heroes can run as fast as they accept the many daunting tasks handed to them.

How will I complete my promise of spreading love if my own name is associated with an invasion of hatred? I pressed the button that began the invasion, the planes that soared above roared across the sky, swaying the still clouds aside so the pilots of dissent may see their victims' eyes as the hatches wir themselves open, displaying the weapons that will engulf the towns below to the helpless civilians. One drop, the whistle as the ellipse swoons down rings clear across the country. Within seconds, destruction, minutes, flames, hours, the bullets of retaliation that follow. Oh, the blood that flows, woe, the screams that accompany them, and I stand in the distance of it all, the little composer who brought the young men and women to their demise as they are removed from their peaceful lives to fight this meaningless war. I pray that my eventual death will prove the end of the horror I have created.

I face the grey ceiling, cold as ever with its blank and empty stare, its tears forever frozen in place. The dread of the "inevitable demise" Anco implied makes me uneasy. The concept of my own mortality has never crossed my mind once for my idealism expanded beyond simply my words but also my own life. My blood was never meant to stop moving until my ideas were erased from the face of the universe, but now, now I am mortal.

I wonder what will happen once I pass. I wonder if my words of peace will return to combat the advocation for militarism and I wonder if unity will finally be achieved. Either way, I will not be able to see it. It is intimidating to not know, but there is no other option for a ghost can only weep for his comrades once passed.

"Hey." a woman tells me at my door way, "Get ready for another food run."

"Are we still going to the same convenience store?" I ask her.

"No." She tells me bluntly, "Luther found another store that we can scavenge from. It's a bit farther but nobody has touched it yet."

I sit upright on my bed to look at her. Vanya. I barely recognized her voice. Lighter, clearer, as if she finally saw what she had wished to see, but not all is bright yet for darkness remains within.

I drag my body toward the living room where we meet every run. The word echoes with every step I take. _Die, die, die, die._ When, how, and why are left unanswered. It could be a grand death of great sacrifice or it could be a pathetic one that retracts me back to my days of cowardice. Only time may pull the curtains.

I walk into the open space, gray in all of its familiar tones of misery. I see my corner, somehow even more drab than the room itself, most likely from its lack of self value.

I feel Kiana's eyes pierce my skin, watching the empty veins attempt to pump its nonexistent blood. She knows I feel guilt for what I've done, but she wants to hear it. I return her gaze, seeing the dark green eyes, wet from years of rain pouring onto the leaves that wished to forget.

"What I did the other day." I begin weakly, my eyes drifting to the left to avoid looking at her's. "It was unforgivable and completely childish. We are currently suffering together as we walk on the graves of our neighbors, hearing the beasts howl each night as we auraless beings are forced to hide. As we bleed, we deserve to die without the resurrection of our past demons."

"Sounds like something you'd say on your soapbox back in the days." She replies.

"That was before I killed everyone who lived here."

Silence. No one packs, no one moves, gasps, or breathes. Cadea looks upon me with worried eyes as the others gaze upon me in shock.

"You think you did all of this?" Luther asks.

"I am a contributor." I respond.

"It wasn't just the White Fang, it was also that chess piece bitch and the Grimm too." Vanya objects.

"The White Fang accompanied the Grimm, the woman never showed her face."

"What makes you think you're responsible for this of all people?" Kiana questions.

"I made the White Fang."

"That's nonsense. You advocated for peace all your life and talked violently one day. It was probably some other activist that made the White Fang." Cadea attempts to reassure.

"One day is all it takes for a gunshot mutes a room of many bickering voices no matter how loud they spoke." I walk to my backpack. "Once we leave this neighborhood, I will demand authorities to hang myself in front of live television and say that I chose to let them."

"Why?" Cadea stands up. "Why would you do such a thing to yourself?"

"The White Fang are children who do not listen to reason anymore. An equally loud gunshot must be made to silence them for good and the man who held the gun that day will fire the next shot."

"You're not making any sense, Malcolm. Killing yourself won't stop the White Fang." Vanya pleads, her voice shaking slightly at the thought of my death.

"It does not matter, The blood on my clothes will never wash off and I do not want to live anymore. I just hope that my death will spark a revolution more successful than mine." The others wish to continue speaking against me, to beg that I reconsider life and all of its beauty. Life was beautiful long ago before Anco died. "Where is this new store you were talking about, Luther?" He looks at me, silent as the words he wishes to say flood his mouth, but do not escape due to the lack of ana proper reason.. He walks ahead of me and I follow, the women's footsteps heard behind me without any sensical rhythm.

There Is much more black today than two days ago. I Luther says that Atlas military has decided to bomb several extremely infested sections of the area. It works, but much too well. Nothing is recognizable any longer on Seventy-Sixth Avenue; not the soup kitchen from the apartment complexes, not the pharmacy from the drug store. I was raised near here for the first seven years of my life, but my childhood memories are blurred by the recent five years of hell that I have created.

My chest becomes heavy at the thought, I sigh softly to lessen the weight to no avail. No matter, my time will soon come and I will redeem myself.

Luther stops at a building with its forehead blown off. The bits of its concrete bones scatter on the road and inside its body. The light inside shines but is frail and the food is few but enough for possibly one day.

He walks in front of two doors and stands, waiting for the men of dust from within to bow to their human masters and move aside. Alas, the men are weak and they gasp their last breaths before falling still, unable to bow properly. Luther exhales heavily, slightly annoyed at the inconvenience. He kicks the center, the bones break and the joints crack. He kicks again, the door expands wider, but still small. He kicks once more, the men all fall on their backs, the door along with them, lifeless and now dead the same as when it lived, as a tool.

We enter and spread out into the aisles to begin our search for future nourishment. I enter the frozen section once again, searching through each arctic container. Soft drinks, instant dinners, and alcohol remain. I take them all and put them in my backpack, not allowing any to be abandoned for none must go to waste. As I close the last door, the lights go out and I am left with a reflection.

I see a man, a blank man, whose suit does not shine as it once did before but still contains the formality of his past. A sad man who misses a dear friend and can not gaze upon the graves of his parents without regret. A furious man, who wishes to hurt those who twisted his words and violated his beliefs, he who worships the words the demon said for one day while ignoring the benevolent speeches the past angel consistently spoke of; that man is the only person in this whole world that the reflective man wishes to kill. Also, I see a tired man, one who desires that someone else takes his place in his quest for change, who can right his wrongs and bring a fulfilling closure to the century-long war he had fought all his life.

I do not blame him, the world is cruel, but we humans are naturally masochists. We accept the pain we go through and enjoy the temporary moments of natural and artificial happiness equally. Some do not make it, but the majority of us enjoy the many hundreds of emotions we feel, both the joyful and the painful. We all consider cruelty to be beautiful, hence the existence of the Grimm.

"You missing the way you looked before?" Vanya's image appears from the corner of the reflection.

"The beard was itchy most of the time and the long hair was extremely uncomfortable. The clean suit and tie are the only things I miss." I reply.

"I thought your beard and ponytail combo was cool back then."

"Cool is uncomfortable. The cool men wear straps on their pants for no reason that dangle about and the cool women wear corsets that tighten their waists to offer a more feminine curve to their mid region. I've become disillusioned of cool."

She chuckles a bit, "Why can't you be like this all the time?"

"Slightly upbeat with my own hint of eccentrism?" She nods. "Why can't I be like that all the time?"

"Are you finished?" Cadea's sweet voice asks me from the right as she approaches me.

"Yeah, I just did."

"Luther says to meet with him in the alleyway to the right of the building since he saw some Grimm running by in the direction we came from." She walks past me and I turn toward her. "You're a good person, Malcolm, you just have to be more lenient on yourself." She smiles brightly then continues on her way, her hand over her belly.

A smile leaks onto my face as I see the development of life. The belly has grown a bit since last week and within the next few days, the child might come out. My smile fades as the dread of realization comes to me that there is no one who can properly help her deliver. We can only take and protects lives, we can not give it. We must get out of here as soon as possible.

"You realized it too, huh?" Kiana asks me as she walks toward me from my back.

"Yes." I reply

"Realized what? Her belly?" Vanya questions.

"Yeah. We need to find a way to escape otherwise she might have a miscarriage since none of us are trained for this." Kiana's voice has a hint of fear rising from the back of her throat.

I walk toward the exit without a sound. Speaking of this will get us nowhere, and the panic ruins the beauty of it all. Childbirth, the beginning of a life to come, the start of a story that is mostly overlooked and overshadowed by other events of one's life. My life is short as Anco said, I can not waste it on self loathing and fear.

Luther is sitting on top of a dumpster, looking at the police station on the exit of the alleyway, most likely lost in a river of nostalgia as he remembers his brothers in law and sisters of protection before the White Fang attack. Cadea is standing farther away from the dumpster but is also looking at the police station. Perhaps her lover was an officer as well.

I walk closer to them and my presence was enough to wake them from their dreams. Luther turns his head toward me.

"Ah, good, you're finally out." He grabs his gun and drops onto the floor, standing upright, "Cadea already told you what's going on?"

"Yes, I saw a Grimm walking in the far distance." I reply

"Yeah, that's exactly why we now have to walk around that area from seventh street to Nirva Avenue. Hopefully, you don't mind."

"I am not bothered at the slightest by extra walking."

"Good, glad to hear that." His voice is somewhat unsteady when talking to me. The other two walk up behind me. "Let's go." He says.

We walk in silence, our hands holding our own separate arms. The lack of sound is unbearable for I know that someone wishes to say something, but will not. I know not of what they wish to speak of, but I know that they wish to speak of the greatly eventful few days that have passed. After what seems to be five minutes, Luther exhales heavily.

"You've changed Malcolm." He says suddenly.

"How so?" I respond.

"What do you mean 'how so'? You must've noticed some time ago that you changed, because I sure as hell did."

"I do not understand."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about, you started off using slang, then a mix of slang and formal, now completely formal. When we first had fifteen people, you were quiet and passive about the people who hated you but recently you can't stand still when someone looks at you wrong. You punched Vanya and mocked Kiana about her past when they mention your's."

"I am not proud of those actions, Luther."

"Only an idiot would be, but I know you're not. I'm mentioning this because I want to know what's going on. Your personality is everywhere now especially after Joseph's recent visit when you went back to your passionate roots and connected with us more than all of the previous weeks that you've been with us. I want to know what is going on in your head, Malcolm. It's not healthy to hide everything inside all the time."

This man. He wants to understand everything, hoping that once he does, he can fix it all. A noble goal, but extremely foolish.

"I've spoken my mind before and it resulted in the White Fang we know today."

Cadea begins to speak, "Malcolm, the violent change in the White Fang was not your fault. You weren't responsible for the bad decisions that those people made."

"I influenced them and that is all that matters."

"You have to stop blaming yourself for that, otherwise you will never be able to let it go."

"I've created the fire, it is only fair that I burn alongside my creation as well."

"How will your public execution result in the end of the White Fang?" Kiana joins.

"My death will symbolize the death of war."

"If you would just talk to us more, then we could help you. All this time of you in your own head resulted in you acting unreasonably." Luther explains.

"I am not acting unreasonably."

"Would Anco agree?" Vanya says.

I can not respond. She never learns. If she can, she will make a song filled of Beelzebub's name and sing it at the gates just to mock the beast that laid beyond. However, that tune. The beast is no longer one. He sits by the gates, hearing Vanya's tune and through all the emotions that run through him, he cries. He sees the blood on his hands, but they are only of his own. Someone else had told him that it was of his victim, but in reality he had only killed one man.

I slow my pace before halting altogether. "No." Of course she would not. Anco is a sweet woman who truly cares for others and knows what is best for those around her. She would tell me that I am not at fault, she would soothe me with many other reasons to continue living, she would serenade with words of wisdom that soothes my desire for a public execution to sleep. A river begins to flow from my eyes. I am a fool. A dumb damn fool.

If only I had died a long time ago, before I made Anco interested of my advocation. There did not need to be a purpose of my death just a stray bullet, just a passing car. Just a misstep off a roof. She would still be alive, she would lead my movement much better that I would have, she would never have strayed from the path of peace. I should have died. I should have died.

A growl is heard in the distance. I look ahead, a wolf. More wolves come up behind it.

"Damn it." Vanya curses and lifts her gun to aim. Kiana, Luther, and Cadea does the same. I follow, lifting my handgun to point at the wolf. They run with great speed and Kiana begins to fire, but more appear behind them and more, and more. There are much too many. This must be how I die, but I wanted the others to live. They've done nothing wrong. I can still let them live.

I lower my gun and holster it. I begin to walk forward, past Vanya, past Kiara.

"Malcolm, what are you doing?" Kiara questions.

"Nothing." I reply. I look to the alleyway on the left that leads to Northway, away from the others, away from home. Now to get them to focus on me. Adam. The man I hate. The man I wish to kill, to ensure that his blood spills on the floor. If he has a family, will kill them. If he has a lover, I will eliminate that individual. I will break that mask, I will tear that coat, I will wipe that smirk with my foot. Everything he loves will be gone from him like what happened to me. An eye for an eye, an arm for an arm.

The wolves look in my direction. Good. I begin to run to the alleyway. I feel each beat in my heart as it pounds through my ribcage, the wolves run toward me. I run, until one wolf's head explodes. The next is decapitated, the next in half at the waist. The others follow, limbs in the air, eyes disconnected from their head, the red emptiness from within visible to all to see.

There they all lay, lifeless, gone, and a figure appears at the center, legs close together, left foot in front of the right. Her eyes are closed as she carries a pink umbrella over her shoulder, complementing her mismatched hair of rouge and brown. Her head rises, so do her eyelids, revealing the lack of color balance in her irises. She looks around at the corpses that surround her, a small glimmer sparks within her eyes at the view of the destruction she had caused. Her eyes then fall on me, then to the others. A smirk slithers onto her face.

She saunters mockingly toward me as she spins her umbrella around, humming in her own mind as she remains mute.

I hear the cock of a machine behind me, "Hey, stay where you are!" Luther exclaims.

She pauses and looks at Luther. Her smile extends. If she were to be vocal, she would laugh heartily at Luther's action. She ignores his statement and continues to walk toward me, ever joyous.

"Luther, put your gun down." I tell him, without moving my head. There is a chance this might work. Sociopathic killers tend to share a certain characteristic.

"Malcolm, she's coming straight for you!"

"It matters not, you will put your gun down to show her that we are not a threat."

"She'll kill you!"

"I will not repeat myself."

The woman pauses and looks at Luther, waiting for him to follow his orders. Her iris is centered, piercing through his chest, then lowers ever so slightly downward. Her smile expands further. She looks at me, waiting for me to tell her my reasons as to why She should allow me to live. My hands are weightless and they shake furiously, my legs feel lifeless, my heart beats against my chest, wishing to be released. I take a deep breath, my feet awake, my chest calms. I begin.

"I grew up without a mother and father, forced to be in an orphanage without people to trust. Those around me would steal from me and beat me into submission. I was later adopted but my foster parents were cogs of a machine that discriminated against a specific demographic solely because of their physical appearance. I saw the injustice in this and I sought to change this system of hierarchy based on skin and fur rather than talent and skills, but I faced great resistance. Many who supported the system spitting at my idea, many neutral of the issue, feeding me their pessimism. I wandered around for a while until I met this beautiful person, one of the best in the world. Her words by themselves would clear the strongest of storms, her voice alone would erect the grandest of monuments in the most desolate of valleys, each story she tells a gust of summer and each song she sings is a breeze of spring. She made me live when I felt the most dead and she made me do what I loved the most. However, she had passed away and I assumed it was not my fault for the following two days and blamed myself for the next five years."

I look at her face. The smirk has lowered a bit and her eyes glimmer as she gains a slight interest of my speech. I realize that I have been pacing around as spoke. Oh, the memories of my past speaking days. I continue.

"You've lost someone dear to you as well, haven't you?" I ask her.

Her smile disappears and her eyes widen. Her irises darken and a sea of red begins to appear from the edges as past memories are brought up again.

"Grief is not an emotion limited to only yourself. Everyone dies eventually and everyone has suffered from the sorrow of the loss of a close friend. I ask you this, what do you wish to accomplish if you are to exterminate me and my comrades? My comrades' friends will fall into a state of great melancholy and your friend remains gone. You wish for a feeling of great power above others, am I correct? You wish to feel as if you can dominate those around you and therefore can dominate your own problems, but it is all simply a facade, offering you a pretty image for you to look at as you fool yourself into assuming that everything is fine."

I stand dead still as her eyes appear directly in front of me, close enough so I can see the blood read ocean that flows within in full detail as it rushes to and fro at the mercy of a storm. Her umbrella is in her left hand as a blade with a curved handle is in her right, the very tip of the blade near my throat. The message is clear " _Say anymore and I will end you."_ indeed, it is true.

I hear the click of a machine behind me. "Put it down, Luther." I tell the person responsible.

"Luther's not doing anything, but I'm not following. She's gonna kill you, Malcolm." Vanya says.

"Listen to me." I tell Vanya with gritted teeth as the blade inches closer to my throat and the woman's eyes jab at Vanya, telling me to tame her.

"She's not listening to you, dumbass, you're just making her angrier. She doesn't care about other people, she kills people like you in the morning to feel awake. I've seen people like her before and they don't care about anyone."

I tilt my head slightly so I do not speak toward the woman, "Put your goddamn gun down, Vanya!"

The woman's eyes lower slightly. They center themselves back to me. Her eyes speak to me. " _If you really want to talk, then you can, but don't say anything stupid."_

"I meant no ill will when I said those harsh statements, I only mean to say that your method of recovery is flawed. By killing others, you are spreading a toxin of hatred that spreads throughout the valley and choke every human in their way and blinding them all. They assume that other humans have taken their vision so they take the eyes of others as revenge, and so the cycle continues until the world is forever blind. I look into your eyes and I see a beautiful woman, capable of spreading love to other humans and ensuring that all are happy so they will never have to feel the same pain that you have suffered through. You can do so much more, you can be much, much more."

She looks deep into me, tearing apart every organ to get a better view of my soul. She sees it, my soul shining brightly of blue and silver. I am not lying. She lowers her sword and sheaths it back into her umbrella. She begins to turn around, but not before looking intently at me once more. The blood no longer runs in her mismatched eyes and her irises are now blank without light or darkness, unsure of her life to this point.

She shows her back to us all, her white coat contrasting with the gray cement she stands on and the brown houses around her. She jumps onto the roof of a nearby building before vanishing from our view. I stand here, looking at the skies that she disappeared from, wondering if she truly realizes that she is a benevolent person.

I hear the others walk behind me, Vanya appearing to my right. She turns her head to me. "I just wanted to keep you safe." How noble of her.

"I know what I am doing, try not to do something like that again." I tell her with a slight scowl. I walk ahead of her, following Luther, Kiana, and Cadea who are now ahead of me. I walk quite a distance before I hear Vanya follow. Perhaps I was much to harsh on her, her intentions were noble after all. However, it is strange, I thought she despised me in the beginning for my cowardice and dishonesty. Maybe she had seen how I was trying to redeem myself. It could be, I do not know.

We walk through the valley of dust, not a soul in sight, not a grimm near. We walk and walk, but there is nothing but the sound of silence. Not the howl of a wolf, or the hiss of a snake, the click of a gun, nor the moan of the dead. We turn the corner and there lies armies of Grimm, dead.

I look up, and I see her. The woman, sitting on the edge of a building, her umbrella over her shoulder, feet dangling, watching us intently with a blank stare. It appears she has done this reluctantly, commanded by the inner benevolence within the rear of her soul. I smile at her, for no apparent reason. She still killed, this time to assist, but as if there is no emotion behind it. Though that may be the case, I still smiled. She stands up and jumps away. She hid it well, but I saw it. A grin, a small patch of roses upon her cheeks. Oh how kindness can pay.

We arrive at home two hours before the night falls. Though we arrive at the usual time we do, the air is not right, the floor feels worn out by extra feet. Luther opens the door and immediately reaches for his gun but halts partway as our company before us point their weapons at us before he could even touch his.

An army of four men and three women point their weapons at us, but one woman stands at the center to make herself stand out. Her hair is black and its ends reach the top of her chest. Her eyes match her hair but have a hint of money green within it. She playfully twirls her pistol and looks at the axe on the floor near the corner that I usually sit.

"That's an interesting souvenir you got from a hunter, Vanya. Tell me, were they dead when you picked it up?" She asks with a light voice.

Vanya pushes her shoulders through mine and walks in front of me. "Why the hell are you here?" She questions.

"Well, I asked a question first and I want it to be answered, it's only fair after all, right?"

"Yeah, the huntress was dead. I thought that I could give it to her family when I find them." There is a slight hesitation in her voice.

The woman grins, "I know you more than any of the poor saps here that live with you, and I can tell that you're lying through your teeth. You're planning on either using it for yourself or pawning it, huh?" Vanya remains silent. The woman's smirk greatly widens. "Not denying it? Oh my, you're much worse than I thought. So much for the honor code of the Slits."

"Says the one who killed off the leader of the Daylight District Dolls for power."

"She was a terrible leader anyways, we were just way too weak to be taken serious by anyone. I would've killed those Cagers that messed with us but the idiot decided to look a blind eye and spared them all." She looks to her comrades, "No offense, guys." They nod. "Now, I'm working with them because- surprise, surprise- The Dolls got killed off by the Grimm. I don't know how, but I think they tried hugging the things to promote world peace or something equally stupid."

"You are terrible." I mutter unconsciously. She looks at me with dilated pupils and a flat expression. Vanya glances at me as if I had killed someone. The woman begins to walk closer to me. Vanya steps in front of me and swings at the walker, but she ducks, and hits Vanya's stomach. She then tosses Vanya to the gunman behind her. "Keep stomping on her until I tell you to stop." The man looks at Vanya clutching her stomach on the ground, hurt and defenseless. "Do it!" He kicks the front of her face with the toe of his boot. My eyes avert the scene before me. "No, keep looking." she tells me. I hesitate, but she gets behind me and grabs my head so that it is fixed onto the scene. Her face is next to mine to ensure that my eyes remain opened.

Vanya tries to cover her face, but the man breaks through her barrier with the bottom of his foot. He splatters streams of red from her nose and mouth that flies into the air and lands on the floor, creating little splats of heads that join in the viewing of this event. He steps on her face for a while, then the chest. He uses the rear of the foot, then the tip, then the rear of his gun.

"What do you see?" The woman whispers in my ear.

"Absolute cruelty toward a dear friend of mine. The death of Cadea's innocence as she watches this. A reminder of Kiana's dark past. Luther's reason for being in the police force." I look directly into her eyes so her eyes may burn at the pits of hell within me. "The reason why I wish to kill Adam."

"Oh, you're the speaker that was around here before. I didn't recognize you much since you shaved and everything." She watches Vanya's pain with no sense of guilt. "I'm not a terrible person because I am a victim of my environment. I've watched things like this so often that I became numb to it all and I've been in that spot so many times that I want to be the one kicking. No, I'm not terrible, if anything, you are, going against your goals like that and hiding away for so long, not willing to take up responsibility." She leans her face very close to mine. "I know who I am, Malcolm, that's why I am not terrible. What does that make a person like you who is lost in their own identity?"

"A human." I look into her eyes once more, through scowled eyes. "Have you finished your monologue yet?"

She smiles. "You got guts, I'm going to like you." She turns over to the man. "You can stop now." The man immediately halts in place and steps back so Vanya may get up. Her face is filled of red, black, and Violet, a river of red flowing from her nostril and her mouth. Her feet can hardly carry her and her eyes appear to be seeing mists in front of her. Through all of her pain and suffering, Vanya spits red on the floor and grins. "He hits like a bitch."

The woman sneers wider. "You are going love it when I hit you then, Vanya." She steps away from me and snaps her fingers. "Grab everything in this apartment to be transported to home. I want Milly and Ron to apprehend their guns and Jason to tie them up. That axe looks heavy so have three people carry it."

"Three people?" Vanya laughs, "I carried that thing by myself. How weak are your pretty boys over there?"

"How about you shut it Vanya before I kill you right here and now in front of your friends?"

Vanya remains silent. The woman walks out of the room and down the hallway. Though Vanya says it under her breath and through her teeth, I could still hear it. "Where'd it go wrong?."


	7. I Will

The cold feeling of the floor pierces through the fabric of my trousers and into my skin. The metal bars line in front of me, taunting in unison as I sit at the center of my room, helpless, waiting for the end of my time, thinking of what I have done, what I could have done, what I will do. Ponder, laugh, cry, delve into insanity, rot. I look ahead through the small square of the door in front of me. The curtains remains red, the lights glimmer upon the metallic stage as the spheres of dust particles dance in the air.

"Vanya has been gone for a long time." Kiana says, hoping for anyone to respond.

"I hope she's okay." Luther replies.

"It's Vanya, she's fine." I say, hoping to soothe my companions.

"I know, but still." Luther responds.

I look to my right. Cadea sits in the corner, her back against the bars, her left arm on the side of her stomach, her right rubbing where she assumes is the child's head. Her eyes are rather dim, without much care for her surroundings. I can tell, she is enveloped in fear. The Cagers are called such due to their reliance on breaking their rivals by capturing them and isolating them in small cages to drive them insane. Sometimes there is torture, other times it the victim is spared from the cruelties of life.

The sound of muffled voices is heard beyond the double doors. One tired, and one with a hint of amusement within. They've returned.

The doors open and three women emerge, one bent over, the other two standing straight. The far left figure unlocks the door to our cage and the other tosses the bent women in as soon as it opens. Vanya lands at the center. A pond of red forms near the bottom of her mouth, a crimson river down her nose, her left eye black as the night and only partially opened.

Though it only hurts her more, the audience of six around her can not help but stare at the mess she had become. She struggles to get up, but only loudly grunts in pain before falling back down on the floor. Cadea begins to stand up, but Kiana and Luther move toward Vanya to aid her.

I look at the two women beside the cage. The door had closed, the wall has been set, yet they are much too close. The one by the door cowers behind a breathing mask, so her face may be hidden from sight, but the other reciprocates my gaze with her despicable green eyes. Mother Mary, or so she claims is her title. Such cruelty towards others does not belong to the motherly instincts of a human.

"What the hell did you do to her?" I demanded for an answer, for the man within is but a human, he believes, he feels, he yells, such are the natural instincts of humans.

"None of your business." She replies instantly without hesitation. "What I do to her is purely for personal reasons Mr. Speaker, so back down, boy."

"You will die, Mary." The man emerges, blood running through his eyes.

"Oh, how so?"

"You can not leave us in cages forever. I will not be reduced to the likes of a captured Grimm."

"Tell me, Malcolm, Ho-"

My face is against the bars before she could finish. "Do not say my name, you sadistic animal!"

She chuckles and shrugs mockingly, "Okay, sir, how do you expect to get out of that cage and kill me?"

"I will not kill you."

"Then how will I die?"

"Do you believe in destiny?"

She raises an eyebrow, "Just a bit, I believe that life is a mix of both personal achievement and fate. Why?"

"If there be a lord above us, no benevolent deity will allow you to walk on the soils of Revenant any longer."

Her smile grows, "Well, The guy must love me because he let me live for three years after I killed my first victim."

"Your time will come."

She leans close to me, yet not close enough for me to reach, "Let's hope that it does before I die of boredom. I can only play with Vanya for so long."

"It's gonna get boring real soon. That other guy hit me harder in one minute than you did in ten." Vanya smiles through the blood in her eyes and the scars on her heart.

Mary's grin fades. "We'll see about that." She turns to the masked woman, "Rylie, watch over them."

"Y-yes ma'am." she responds timidly.

The door closes behind her as her night black hair, dark as her heart, darker than death itself, dancing freely against the wind, mocking the birds in cages.

The silence lingers among us, sitting on its throne, watching over us all menacingly to establish its power. Rylie looks blankly at us, her eyes not visible from behind the tinted slits of her mask. Her hair shines a fair yellow as it rests upon her dirty blue jacket and grazes her faded jeans. I look at the floor, not comfortable looking in her direction for I know she will not like it. The silence is unbearable, our tyrant must be overthrown with the relief of sound.

"How's it like watching me get beat?" Vanya asks suddenly, her eyes piercing through Rylie's tinted eye slits.

Rylie's head shifts to face Vanya's direction, but she says nothing. Her shoulders become tense as she nervously rubs her fingers against each other.

"C'mon, I won't bite as hard as your boss." Vanya continues.

"I- I didn't enjoy it at all." Rylie replies softly, as if whispering to nobody.

"Well that's new, a Cager that doesn't enjoy violence."

"I'm not a Cager." She has all of our attention. I hear the shifts of multiple bodies behind me. Rylie hesitates, as if not at all accustomed to an audience.

"Were you captured by them?" Luther asks eagerly, "If so, we can help you escape."

"Calm down Luther, let talk." Vanya tells him.

Rylie remains silent. It appears that she is balancing the weight of honor among her companions and the morality of releasing kidnapped victims. The battle soon ends and her head lowers. She inhales, then deeply exhales. "My brother is a part of the Cagers. I had no choice but to stick with him when the Grimm attacked since I couldn't find my parents. He just followed Mary and did whatever she told him to."

"Was he the one that beat me down?" Vanya questions.

Rylie hesitates briefly, "Yes. He usually has no problem beating people, but he was scared of you. You are well known among the Cagers, Vanya."

She chuckles softly, "Wow, even when I was defenseless, he was still scared of me? What a spineless bastard."

"Vanya!" I softly exclaim.

"I-it's okay, really. I don't even like Jason that much, not any more anyways." She looks to the floor, reminiscing of better times, hoping that a window may open so she may clearly see the past. "He used to be an independent person, but then he started caring about how the people around him saw him as. His friends joined the Cagers, so did he. His friends followed Mary, so did he. His friends killed people for her, so did he." She nearly choked on her last words.

Silence returns once more as her confession ends. I look onto the stage beyond the window of the double doors. I see the light still glimmer onto the dark surface of the stage floors. Though it remains dark, there is still light.

"Rylie." I begin. She looks to me, I can also feel the gaze of the others as well. I say nothing as I ponder of my following statement. It is insane, it is partially empty, yet full of truth. "If you help us get out of here, I'll make sure that Jason leaves Mary for good and strays away from the path of the Cagers."

She looks blankly at me, seeing through the partially false sincerity of my sudden proposal. "How are you going to do that?" she questions me.

"What is your brother's stance of Faunus rights?"

"He respects faunuses but pretends to hate them because most of the Cagers do."

"Is he a violent individual?"

"No, he only kills when he is told to."

"Does he know who I am?"

"He does, but he doesn't like you anymore because of your speech that encouraged violence."

"I can convert him."

Rylie says nothing. She has all rights to be skeptical of my promises, but they are not empty. No man deserves to be a prisoner of his own shell, no man deserves to be reduced to an object of conformity, he must be free, and I shall offer him his wings.

Rylie looks at me, I see through the tinted lense of her mask, she has made her choice and will forever hold her peace. "You have to convert Jason first."

"I will." It has been set. So begins a new rebellion, one for freedom, one against a cruel tyrant. I will destroy her throne, I will erase her of her position, no more shall she reduce us to a state of terror and fear. I will win.


	8. Reluctant Aggression

Eight thirty in the morning, breakfast. Jason was requested by Vanya to be serving our mea all of todayl. Mary complies, excited to see the results. Rylie remains seated at the chair near the double doors. It opens. The light of the sun through the roof pierces through. The sky is clear today.

A skinny man walks through, half of his face hidden behind a cloth mask that extends to his neck. He stands in front of the cage, pretending not to shake, but his iris quivers as he looks at Vanya. Rylie slowly walks over to the barred door so she may open it for him.

"Hey, you're Jason right?" Vanya asks him. He does not reply. "I don't remember you wearing a mask like that last time. Are you scared of me looking at you or something."

"No." He lies. Though obvious, he is rather skilled in the art of deception for his voice remains calm and still. "It's getting cold and there's no more face masks so I had to make my own."

Rylie opens the gates for him. He swiftly puts the tray on the floor of the cage. Five pieces of bread with about two slices of processed meat in each one. One glass of milk for us to share.

He attempts to quickly walk away from us. "Where are you going?" Vanya exclaims. He halts in his place. "I want to talk to you for a bit. Why don't you stay for a while?"

"Mary said if Vanya wants to talk to you, then you have to stay." Rylie reminds him. His head shifts slightly toward her direction. He is angered to have been betrayed by his own flesh in blood. The feeling is very mutual. "She'll know, jason. You have to stay."

He sighs and turns around. Rylie closes the doors. "Sit down, make yourself comfortable." Vanya tells him. He does as she says, crossing his legs in an X formation.

Luther reaches for the tray and passes the food around to the others, giving Cadea the glass of milk to provide nutrient for her child. I accept his offer, biting into the thin sandwich. It is dry and the salt of the false meat intensifies my thirst. However, I must go on.

"I must ask, Jason, how long have you been a member of the Cagers?" I begin.

His eyes meet mine, slightly confused. "I thought Vanya-"

"If Malcolm wants to talk to you, you reply to him." She says as she chews her food.

Jason remains silent for a while, weighing whether he should reply to me or not. He looks at the floor near my foot. "About three years."

"Your friends within the gang. You enjoy being with them, correct?" I continue.

"Yeah, I like being with my friends."

"They mean a lot to you, do they?"

"Yeah, without them, I honestly wouldn't know what to do?"

"Why do you feel this way toward them?"

"They gave me money to help pay for the rent that my family lived in. My parents worked really hard, but they were paid too little, so my sister and I had to work as well, but that still wasn't enough. They pretty much saved my family"

"Ah, such kindness. I assume that you wished to repay them in any way possible?"

"Yeah. I promised to always be with them and have their back no matter what."

"A loyal friend, Jason. You are a good man."

He locks his iris into mine. "Thank you." He smiles.

"However, I must ask. How many of your friends have recently passed?"

His smile fades slightly, but does not disappear. "Two."

"How were they killed?"

"Robert died by a grimm, Lilan died because a Slit cut her up."

"Slits tend to be defensive, why would they do that to poor Lilan?"

"Lon told her to kill some Slits for him."

"Lon as in the previous leader of the Cagers?"

"Yes."

"Why would he tell her to do such a thing?"

"I don't know."

"Has he ever told anyone as to why?"

"No."

"Do you feel that he had a good reason to send Lilan off on that mission?"

"Not really, but I don't know why. He might have a good reason that I didn't know about."

"You actually do know."

"What?"

"During your three years of being a Cager, what missions have Lon been giving everyone?"

"Well, he'd tell them to spray a wall on a certain street or kill some gang members."

"What do you think is the reason for all of this?"

"I don't know."

"You do Jason, you know."

"I don't know what you're trying to tell me, I honestly don't know."

"Those gang members have never done anything wrong. The Slits help others and remain neutral, The Daylight District Dolls did the same. The Easterners are a neighborhood community service and self defense force, yet all are deemed as acceptable targets for the Cagers. Why do you think Lon would do such a thing?"

Jason's smile disappears completely. He looks to the floor once more, searching for the answer below, asking the deceased as to why Lon would force his members to commit such indiscriminate acts of violence toward others. His eyes widen. His pupils shrink. The color begins to fade. "Power." He whispers

"Now, that might be the case, but it might be different. Has Lon ever directly offered money to the members he knew were financially insecure?"

He is silent for a while before weakly responding. "No."

"Did he make his missions optional?"

"He forced us to do what he says."

"Did he pay Lilan's respects after she died?"

He says nothing.

"And Mother Mary, I assume she is much different. She cares of each and every one of her members, there are greatly justifiable reasons for killing others. Right."

He remains mute. His iris is darker as the light fades away into the rear of his mind.

"Yet you serve them, yet you follow blindly into each abyss they tell you to go to. If your other friends were to die tomorrow, they would not bat an eye, they would wonder of who to kill next, who to intimidate and instill their power toward, and you will still serve them, because you are weak and you can not warn your friends of these monsters that control you. All. You are a coward, Jason. You are a coward and a fool."

He remains mute and stares at my feet. His iris shakes uncontrollably. A river begins to flow from the edges of his eyes.

"I-I'm not."

"Really now? How are you not?"

"I'm not. I don't want my friends to die. I thought Mary and Lon knew what was best. I didn't know."

"What will you do now?"

He looks straight into my iris, desperation clings to the edges of the river, "We need to get out of here." I can see the faces of those he wish to protect. The regret of following the judgement of others envelopes his voice.

"We will, but I need your absolute cooperation. Can you trust in me to help you?"

He nods.

"I need you to go out right now and lie to Mary of what happened here. If you can not think of anything, tell her that all Vanya did was tell you her stories of killing Cagers."

"Okay, I got it." He stands up, taller, bolder than before. A monument of a man, his height being a feature of him I had never realized until now. "By the way Malcolm." he hesitates at first, but then continues, "Thank you for finally opening my eyes, but what about you?"

"What about me?"

"How are you going to open the eyes of the White Fang? How are you going to convey them to return to the path of peaceful protesting?"

"I will find a way, do not worry of it for now."

He nods and turns away from us. He opens the double doors and walks through, allowing them to close automatically behind him.

I look at my sandwich. I did it. After seven years of silence, I've converted two people without violence. I take another bite. The dryness of the bread does not bother me.

"That was surprisingly fast." Kiana states. "Like what happened with the woman with the umbrella."

"Your lives depend on him." I reply without looking at her, "None of you deserve to die by the hands of Mary."

A sniffle is heard in the corner of the room. I look to see Rylie, One hand over her face as the other holds her face mask. She continues to shed tears of joy, unable to laugh or smile. "Thank you." she says weakly through the waterfall rushing down her face, "Thank you so much."

According to the numbers on the wall, it is seven-thirty. It has been six hours since we ate lunch, two since dinner, both times, the thin sandwich that we ate for breakfast. I look to Cadea, swallowing her vitamin pill with a glass of milk. How benevolent of them, to allow her to consume one Vitamin a day while the rest belongs to them.

"When will we bathe?" I ask Rylie.

She looks at the numbers above the door, "Oh crap, you're supposed to go now. Get up, guys."

I stand up and walk to Cadea, helping her stand alongside Vanya. Rylie Opens the barred door and so we follow her. Eight-thirty: breakfast. Twelve: lunch. Five-thirty: dinner. Seven-thirty: bath. All that is left is the curfew. I am aware of the type of woman Mary desires to be. She wishes for power above others, whether it be economic, systematic, or personal, she desires it all.

There is a shower room to the rear of every theatre for the convenience of the hardworking performers, but the functionality of such after the grimm attack is uncertain. The mystery fades as we walk in front of a restroom. Mary stands in front of the door, looking at her scroll for the time.

"Rylie, they were supposed to be her two minutes ago." Mary scolds.

"Sorry ma'am, I wasn't looking at the clock." Rylie looks at Mary's shoes.

"Look up, Rylie."

She does as she is told.

"Whether you're wearing that mask or not, I know when you're not looking at my face. From now on, you are to look at everyone's face when you talk to me, alright?"

She nods slowly.

Mary walks closer to Rylie. "Look, I know it's hard, but you gotta talk to people properly, okay? Your parents may have sheltered you from reality, but in the real world, you're expected to be a well mannered woman, got it?"

She nods normally.

"Good girl. See, you're learning things! Wow, that felt really rewarding. Hell, I just might adopt you."

"She's not a dog Mary." Vanya interrupts. Mary looks at her. The blood in Mary's irises flow gently as normal. "What the hell is this anyways, one bathroom to shower in? There's not even a men's bathroom available for Malcolm and Luther."

"They can adjust. Don't you trust their cognitive abilities?"

"That's beside the point. We're not animals, Mary. Give us real showers."

The blood in Mary's eyes begin to flow faster ever so slightly. "No. You get what I give and that's it."

"That's real rich coming from father Elijah's toy."

The dams have broken in Mary's eyes. The blood rushes through, flooding and drowning all who stand in front of it, but only those who look into her eyes can see the destruction.

Mary nods, making a mock face of agreement. She continues to nod and nod and nod and nod. Then she runs at Vanya and slams her head against the restroom door. She slams it over and over and over and over. The door is then covered by streaks of red and droplets of blood slither down the surface onto the floor. She then grabs Vanya by her long hair and shoves her face against the wall, so she may stay there, resting on one cheek.

She whispers loudly into Vanya's ears, her voice slightly muffled as it attempts to slip through the holes of her teeth. "You think that's funny? You think you're a comedian? That was pretty good actually, Oooh you got me good, but look where that got you, and you remember Father Elijah? All those years of torment and silenced oppression, look where that got him. Decayed at the bottom of his own basement. He was also pretty funny in the head when I finally ended him.." Mary leans her face closer to Vanya so they may both hear each other breathe. Luther steps forward to help Vanya but the click of metal is heard farther down the hallway. "You were close to me back then Vanya, real close, but don't think I won't do the same thing to you in front of your friends."

Vanya reluctantly nods. Mary roughly tosses her to us. "You have twenty minutes, since I know the pregnant chick needs to take her time, but no more than that." She tells us. Vanya attempts to stand up, but she does so slowly. I walk to her but she brushes me off, her pride still strong, even when flooded of her own blood.

We walk into the room, surprisingly smooth and spotless. Regardless of its condition, it is a restroom. Bathing in such a laboratory will take some effort. I begin to walk to the end of the hall along with Luther.

"What're you two doing?" Vanya questions.

"I assumed that since you brought up the issue of gender separation that you want privacy between genders." I answer.

"You sound like a damn square, c'mere and wash down with us."

Luther begins to blush a garden of Sakura trees, "Are you sure about that? I mean, Kiana is still a minor and-"

"You make it sound like we're all gonna have sex or something. C'mon, we're humans, not animals. Besides, you two are the most asexual men I've ever met in my life, just c'mere and talk with us like a real group."

We return to them. Cadea slowly removes her dress to ensure she does not smother her child. Kiana follows Cadea, calmly removing her clothes as well. I do the same, Luther is still flustered, "Malcolm, you're going to bathe naked so easily in front of the women."

"You are being foolish if you believe that I am beastly enough to attack them simply because they are bare." Anco's outline wanes across my vision. Briefly mocking me. "Besides, none of them appeal to me." I reply.

"How noble." lighthearted sarcasm embracing Vanya's voice as she removes her lingerie.

I walk over to the sink and hover my hands over them so the water may flow. The water is cold, yet I must lather it on my body. I cup my hands and toss the collected amount onto my body. The frost pierces further down my chest and lungs. I collect more before I rub myself down. Luther returns with paper towels from the bathroom stalls and place them on the clean floor near the sink.

I look at Vanya, washing her face to remove the blood. There is a new cut on her lip and the blood on her nose continues to flow no matter what she does.

"Why must you continue to rebel against her?" I ask.

Vanya continues to wash her face in silence. It appears as though I will not receive an answer. I return to rubbing water on my neck.

"Get a paper towel and rub my back, Malcolm." Vanya says.

I look at her. I know not of Vanya, but she had never appeared to be the type to allow another to aid her. She had refused my aid when she had physically difficulties, yet now. No matter, she is her own woman with her own reasons.

I pick up a towel and wet it. She sits on the floor and I sit behind her. I look at her back briefly, admiring the assortment of colors. Blue and yellow, accompanying red and orange in a bouquet shades that fill her light back with brightness that can make the sun itself envy her.

"What do you see on my back?" She asks me.

I see a woman in a red dress. "A woman in rose attire." I see her holding a golden knife as if it were her beloved child. "She wields a knife and cradles it in her arms." Around her is garden of blue orchids. "She surrounds herself in a field of blue orchids." There is a reptilian tail that extends from her rear and extends to the right side of her arm where the dragon spirals. "She has a lizard-like tail that extends to the right side of your back, most likely becoming the dragon that lies on your right arm.."

"Mary made that for me." Vanya responds. "She made all of it." I can hear razors and silk in her voice as she remembers the past. "She was one of my closest friends since we lived on the same block, but I rarely saw her because her bastard step father Elijah always came back from work drunk and abused her. The cops never batted an eye since he was such a sly liar, but she still tried to see me when she can."

She chuckles out of nowhere. Most likely so she will not cry from the sorrow that consumes her at the moment. She continues, "I'm sure you heard what happened to Elijah. She locked him in a cage that he had in the basement and let him die in it. That's when she started to go crazy for power, but I still talked to her. She told me all about how great it was to be above him and joined the Daylight District Dolls after learning about how they kill people as well for the good of the community. She didn't like how they were defensive so she killed the leader, Marielle. She then started picking fights with every gang, including the Slits. I'm guessing you know what happened next."

"Yes. the gang self destructed due to a civil war on whether or not to embrace Mary's ideologies. They wiped each other out and Mary killed Lon shortly after, leading the Cagers. The Grimm attacked shortly after and the eight who keep us are what remains." I answer.

"You really know your gangs." Kiana comments.

"I had to know my potential allies and assassins before the Grimm attacked."

"That's enough Malcolm, go wash yourself." Vanya says. I stand up and return to the vacant sink. Luther finishes before I do and walks over to assist Cadea. We continue to wash in silence until a metallic voice tells us to stop.

Nine is the curfew, and so completes the cycle. I will commence the operation tomorrow. I know not of how, but I am sure I will think of a way come sunlight. I lay flat against the floor and stare at the roof of our cage. Black, pure black. I can see the bars of the wall at the corners of my eye, but they do not provide any variation in the colors that fill my vision.

I hear a soft rustle on my left, whispering in the still air. "Have you ever loved anyone, Malcolm?" Vanya softly asks.

"I have once." I think of her, my dearly beloved college friend.

"Did they love you back?"

"She did, but I did not find out until after she had died."

"Huh." Vanya says as filler, unsure of how to respond of my previous statement. She remains silent, but awake. I look over to Rylie, leaning back on her chair, her mask in her lap, her short golden hair lifeless, hanging down on her body still as bodies in eternal slumber. "I think I loved Mary back then." Vanya suddenly says. I look over to her, the corner of her irises shining with moisture. "It'd make the most sense, why I'd feel so betrayed since she joined the Cagers, since she killed so many people. I miss her, but I also want to kill her." She puts one arm over her eyes, so she may be blind of what lies ahead. "I don't know what to do." minute traces of desperation lies in her voice.

She prays for someone to help her, to tell her what to do. To lead her onto a path that will allow both her and Mary to live happily ever after. I am not that man. I am not an all-perfect being found within fairy tales that bring smiles upon the faces of all even during the most sorrowful of times. Even if I was, I fear life is never as benevolent as we wish her to be. Mary's mental state has reached a point of no return. It is impossible for her to return to her more innocent roots. "You must do what you assume will benefit us the most."

She lifts half of her elbow up so one eye may lock onto mine. "Which would that be?"

"I do not know." My eyes return to the ceiling, dark in all of its beauty. "A part of living is to discover your own path, without the assistance of others."

"That's part of the reason why it's so scary and painful."

"But also why it is beautiful and worth living."


	9. The light Comes For Me

The sun remains in the sky, embracing those outside with open arms of benevolence and love. Its rays gently float down onto the theater stage as the glass roof magnifies each particle of light onto the stage surface. Though there is no ill will, it seems rather mocking to us. In one month, it cowers away, hidden behind its brethren of clouds, only to now appear, offering warmth onto the desolate winter that had befallen on us.

It matters not if I am outraged by the sudden presence of the sun, I wish to feel it. I wish to feel its warmth on my skin once more, like the days of old, as I shouted my passion within a sea of light surrounding me as if I was a sentient being.

Now is my opportunity, to return to those days. Once I escape, I will continue my journey for equality. No fear, no cowardice. If that man dares to strike me down with his blade, I shall bleed standing upright for I kneel to no tyrant.

For now, these are all hopes and dreams, but no matter. I will make them true. I will escape.

I've discussed with the others of the plan. Though I saw disagreement in their eyes, they all reluctantly nod to it, without an alternative in their minds.

It is seven the afternoon. So far, the day has been as expected: food delivered at an exact time without fail and our continued containment within this damned cell until we are allowed to bathe at seven.

We sit in silence as the numbers on the wall approach seven at a deathly slow pace. Cadea hums her tune once more to her child, comforting it in the one way she is familiar with. However, her voice shakes ever so slightly as she does. Perhaps in fear, perhaps in anger. Perhaps even in desperation.

I hear a slight shifting in movement behind me. "Why do you want to be the one who goes to the signal room of all people?" Vanya questions me.

"I assume you all know where the closet lies?" I retort. There is nothing but silence within the air. "I saw the signal room on our way to the showers yesterday and know exactly where to go."

"Rylie told us all how to get there this morning, one of us could easily get there."

"Tell me how to get there."

"We walk straight down the stairs then turn right and walk into the hallway. Afterwards we continue on straight until we find another hallway and the third door on the left-"

"Fifth door on the right."

"Rylie said third door on the left."

"She only assumes that it is there because that is what Mary tells her, but you of all people should know Mary's manipulation of her comrades. Rylie is not a Cager so her loyalty to Mary is not stable enough so she may be given information about where the signal room is."

"I think he's right." Rylie intervenes. The others look at her and she becomes slightly flustered. "I mean, I've never personally been in the room and Mary told me where the room is but never to enter it, so it could just be her playing mind tricks with me."

"Then how do you know where the room is?" Vanya questions me once more.

"Mary is cruel, but thinks of herself as wiser than she is. It is The room is small like a closet, giving the illusion that it is not of great importance since there is little room to perform tasks."

"Basically, you're going off on a guess?"

"I do not need to justify myself. If I am wrong, I will test each and every door until I find the correct one." I can tell Vanya wishes to further protest against me. I have had enough. "Why do you wish to prevent me from performing my task?"

"Because it's not 'your task'. You're not alone, but you act as if you are, saying that you need to do this and that even though we could help you. Rylie and Jason know more about this theater than any of us do, but you don't even ask them anything beside where the signal room is."

"Jason is too much of a sheep for Mary to trust him either and Rylie had just told us her story. I need to search for the room myself."

"I'm much smaller, Malcolm." Kiana joins. "I can sneak by much easier."

"No, I will do it."

"Goddammit Malcolm!" Vanya exclaims. "Can't you see we're trying to help you?"

I look at the floor. I remain mute. Such nice people I've met. Such great friends I've made. I've never been so happy.

"I want to die." I say. The air is still, yet the hearts around me beat in pain, confusion allowing their movement to continue. I go on, "There is a very high chance that the person who goes into the radio room will be found and killed. I can not stand for any of you to die."

"You're still going on about that?" Luther questions me as well. "It's not your fault that the White Fang became like that, Malcolm. You're still a good man." Desperation envelopes his tone.

"That is simply white noise for me. The past matters not. I have no future within the eyes of the public. Only the shadows of my past that others wish to hold will remain of me and I will not be able to advance, but you are all blank slates with so much opportunity. There are so many things that you each can become that I can not."

"You're not making any sense." Cadea exclaims. "Why are you giving up on life so easily?"

"I never gave it up. I will simply exchange it for yours'."

The door opens, Jason stands in between the double doors, the hood of his jacket covering his head, his face mask up. "It's time, guys." He says. I look at the numbers. Seven-thirty. I can feel their sorrow and dread behind me as Rylie walks closer to the barred door and unlocks it. I exit to follow Jason. "Good luck." She says softly. I hope so as well. No matter how noble my words may be, the thought of my own mortality frightens me greatly.

As we walk down the main hallway, Jason slips a handgun into my hand. "This is your's from the armory." he whispers. I nod slightly to confirm and hide away the pistol into the back of my pants and cover it up with my dress shirt. I continue to walk ahead of the others so they may not pull me back when the time comes. The doors pass by me in a blur. Though I am walking relatively slow, my heart beats at a remarkable speed that makes everything still in comparison.

I see it, the right turn into the other hallway. Almost, just a bit more. I turn and walk swiftly down the hall toward the fifth door on the right. One, two, three, four. Here it is. No one guards it, most likely to keep it hidden from the others so its importance may be masked. I open it. There lies a small tower with three pillars that extend upwards toward my chest region. The words "T-34" is written on the side. The newest portable tower model, good. I quietly close the door and pick up the scroll on the side of the tower. I look through the available contacts nearby. Thirteen signals in the theater I am in, two faded signals in the distance, one down by Abbey Lane, green.

I call the green signal. It rings. Again, again, again. Please answer. Please, I am begging you. I don't want to die. The ringing ends. "Hello?" I beg.

"Hello, who's this?" A woman answers.

"My name is Malcolm and you have to help me."

"Okay, uh, Malcolm was it?"

"Yes."

"Calm down, Malcolm, explain to me what you need help with."

"My group and I have been captured by the Cagers and we are being held hostage at the Silver Legacy theater down Merilyn Avenue. There are eight Cagers in here, each armed with weapons."

"Okay, I think I know where Merilyn Avenue is."

There is a shuffle on their side and a male voice is heard. "Which one are you guys so we'll know when we get there." The man says.

"I-" The others first, "There is a woman with dark red hair that covers her left eye, a young fox faunus female, a police officer of dark skin, and a woman in labor, those are my companions."

"What about you?"

"I am wearing a suit, you will recognize me when you see me. Also, two of the Cagers are our friends. One is named Rylie and she wears a face mask with tinted eye holes. Another is named Jason and he wears a half face mask made of cloth."

"Okay Malcolm, we're on our way right now. Just hold on okay, Merilyn Avenue is a while away from where we are right now."

My throat is dry, my mouth empty of words. Help is coming, we will soon be saved. I open my mouth once more, I must ask them. "You two are hunters correct?"

"Yeah, we were before the Grimm attacked."

"What are your names?"

"I'm sun, the lady you just spoke with is Blake."

"Sun and Blake. Lovely names."

"Thank you."

The river begins to flow once more. "No, thank you. Thank you so very much for saving us."

"No problem, but you better leave now before they find you. We're on our way right now." The line clicks. And so ends my conversation with the two greatest strangers I've ever met.

I put the scroll back on the tower and retreat out of the room I swiftly, but silently rush back to the group. Down the hall, turn right. I turn right,

"Hey, Malcolm." The devil beckons.

I halt any movement. I can hear her walking down the hall behind me, each footstep loud as the roar of the hundred men she had killed.

"Why aren't you with the group?"

I say nothing.

"Don't you want to get clean?"

SIlence Reigns over me.

"My my, you are just so naughty." She stands by my left and feels my back. Her arm lowers toward my rear and pulls out my weapon. "Planning to escape with this, huh? Tell me, how were you going to pull it off?"

I swallow my life down my throat. "I would kill one of your guards then Vanya would acquire their weapon and so we would fight our way out."

She laughs, "You, kill another person? Didn't you advocate peaceful protest?"

"I also encouraged violence against the ignorant who refuse to change."

"That was one time and my fellow Cagers said you were just mad that one day and didn't mean any of it."

"If people like you can be erased from this world, I will happily bathe in your blood."

"Well, if it's a bath in blood you want." I hear her turn around to speak to a goon. They say somethings to each other. A few words, formation of sentences, a verb and an adjective there describing me. I hear none of it. The only audible things are the walls. The walls that beckon my name, that echo my fate. There is no such thing as destiny. I was never destined to die. My insecurities have doomed me. That is all.

The curtains hide me from the audience before me. How exciting, my own play, a very show dedicated to me and my struggles. I hear her say something to the others. They know. She is building up unnecessary suspense. I count the darkness before me on the floor. Even now, as I stand on it, I know not of what the stage floor is made of. It could be plastic, it could be cold metal, it could be soft cloth. It matters not.

The fabrics that hid me move aside, the light above blinds me briefly before the glare fades and I am faced with an audience of eleven. All the guards, all my dearly beloved friends. I walk forward, closer to them, closer to the orange and yellow tint in the sky. How strange, it must be seven-forty by now, yet the sun still floats above. Though not as high as morning, it remains in the sky nonetheless.

Mary says somethings in her usual way to provoke shock and anger. Something about betrayal, something about hospitality, something about justifying her actions. She had allowed her carnal desires for power control her, and that is enough to make her a truly weak person. It matters not if she kills me, I know my part, I know how to speak. She smiles and dances around me, her arms flail in the air with joy. She is relishing my punishment.

She stops speaking. She looks at me. I return. "Well, anything to say about that?" She asks me.

I look at the crowd. My beloved comrades dread what is to come next. Cadea cries in Vanya's arms, how innocent of her to. Kiana looks at the floor. The stubborn little rascal. Luther looks at me with dismay. You wish you were here, huh. You are too pure. Rylie and Jason look away. It is not your faults, do not blame yourselves. Vanya looks at me in anger. No, not me, she looks at Mary. She now looks at me, her eyes fading. A river building behind her iris. I see.

I raise my right arm into the air, my hand in a fist. I raise it toward the sun, toward the future and those who live. I raise it for those who have fallen, for those who will fall, for those who will carry on my legacy. My rebellion has ended, and so the next generation will begin anew.

I hear a metal object rubbing against the floor. I look at the floor. Even as the floor remains dark, the sun shines ever so brightly onto it, making the light appear as if it is rising from the floor.

A white light then emerges in my vision. I see nothing, I hear nothing. I wake from my brief slumber, I see the floor as my cheek rests on it. My body kisses the ground, embracing it. I feel another force in my head. Ah, she is doing it that way. Another hit. The air is lighter, I see the colors emerge. Another hit. Ah, the floor is no longer black, but blue. Another hit. The light comes closer, it appears as if it is reaching for me. Another hit. It takes my hand, it comes for me. Another hit. I see Anco. She cries as she sees me. Another hit. She runs to me, embracing me, rubbing her hand onto my head, to heal it. Another hit. Shhhh, it's okay Anco, I'm here now, I'm fine. Another hit. I don't feel anything anymore. Another hit. Besides, Vanya hits a lot harder than Mary does. Anco looks into my eyes to see if I am lying. I only smile brighter. Another hit. She had hit me so many times, and only now am I truly blind. I pet Anco's head. How soft. Another hit. All of these violent strikes and only now have I passed.


	10. Only For You

**As I sit there, I see it all. The blood trickling down the stage, his last breath escaping his mouth within a red mist. The light shining down on him so he can feel the sun on his skin just one last time before he goes for good. I would cry but the tears just won't go through. I would scream, but that would only show my weakness to her. My dear friend Malcolm. He is no more.**

 **I think the earth shook beneath me, the floors split in two and I fell in, I think I took the gun from the guard beside me and pulled the trigger as to blow my head off. I think I was eaten by a Grimm. Anything could have happened to me, and i would have accepted it with open arms, if it meant I get to see him again.**

 **The ceiling broke, the glass rained down onto the stage, cutting Mary and dispersing the pools of blood that surround Malcolm. One figure landed and kicked Mary down, the other swiftly went through the guards and knocked them down as well. The other one took all of the guards' guns and broke them. They then stood on the stage, looking at Malcolm's dead body, trying to look sad, but looking more disgusted instead.**

 **They said something about a rescue, that a Malcolm told them there were hostages in this theater.**

" **That's us." I tell them.**

" **He also said that there was a Rylie and Jason who we were also meant to save." The woman in black says.**

" **The two guards on my right are them" I tell them.**

" **What about Malcolm?"**

" **Who the hell do you think you're stepping on?"**

 **They look at the body one more time and look disappointed this time.**

" **I- I'm sorry."**

 **I stand up. "You two help the my group get their guns back." I say to Rylie and Jason. They nod and wave at the others to follow them, and they do. I stay standing, looking at the two hunters. I can't help but to glare at them. "What're you two gonna do about the other Cagers?"**

" **We're going to tie them up and take them to authorities."**

" **Haven't you two realised that you can't exit the neighborhood?"**

" **We can, we do it all the time." The monkey says.**

 **Just then, I think a vein snapped in my chest, letting the blood spurt out into the rest of my body and into my eye. "Really? Then why did Atlas publicly announce on the radio that we had to stay here until further notice because there were too many Grimm around?"**

" **I don't know, there actually aren't that many Grimm around here." The woman says.**

" **So we've all just been abandoned here while Atlas goofs around the main city?"**

" **They're trying their best out there." The monkey explains.**

" **Oh really? Then what are you two doing coming in and out of this area?"**

 **They stay shut.**

" **Aren't you two also supposed to be 'doing your best' in the main city?"**

" **I left something in this city and I'm trying to find it." The woman lies.**

" **Bullshit, you don't live here anymore. If you did, you would've gotten it a long time ago. I can tell, you're scared of going back to the main city. You're scared." I toward the stage and stomp on a Cager's face as I passed.**

" **Hey, don't do that, he's unconscious." says the man.**

" **Shut it, monkey. You two think that this place is romantic because it reminds you both of a more modest past when you wore rags and had to steal to survive, but people like me are still at the bottom, scraping by while you look at us with your smug grins. You're hunters, if something tries to spook you, you at least have a fighting chance. If I pick a fight with a hunter, I'd rather die a pathetic death than run away. If some gangster nobody like me can have the guts to fight back, hunters like you should be standing with your chins up."**

" **Look, you don't understand." The woman says.**

" **That's a really good way to run away from an argument, just pull the 'my life has been really really hard for me but I'm not gonna elaborate' card and hope your opponent feels sorry for you enough to drop the topic." I walk onto the stage. "Just get the other Cagers out, leave the woman up here to me."**

" **Are you going to kill her?" The monkey asks me. I say nothing. "We have to take her to authorities, that way she can be rehabilitated and-"**

" **Look -Justice-warrior, she's past the point of no return and would only bite off the fingers of anyone who tries to feed her so just piss off." They still stand in the same spot, unmoving. "Also, you're gonna have to kill me if you don't go. I really feel like killing someone right now and I just might try to do it to you two. Next time we meet, I may be less mad, but right now, I can barely even see what's in front of me."**

 **They stand there, bodies and mouths still, trying to understand what I just said, but then they moved. I heard a few shuffles here and there, then absolute silence. I look behind me just to be sure, nothing but chairs and darkness. I look up, the sun is gone. The clouds returned. Ah, hello my friends, welcome back.**

 **There is a rustle on the stage. Mary's standing up, but still staggering a bit. That monkey sure can kick, but I shouldn't be saying that. He is a hunter after all. Mary looks at me and smiles that despicable smile she always makes when she knows something that I don't, but right now, it's more sad than despicable. There's nothing for her to know anymore.**

" **Who the hell do you think I am, Vanya?" She yells at me. I don't respond. "Do you think I'm just some poor girl to be protected and dawdled on?" I remain silent. "Well look where I was, a bunch of fools following me, you bunch locked up, and everyone else before you dead and fed to the Grimm.:" Not a movement of my lip. "I am was your mother, I was something that Father Elijah could never be, and I was at the top."**

" **All that mattered to you was the power, huh?" I ask.**

" **Not just power, but respect, money, the pride of rising from the bottom. I loved it all, but like every other person who rose to the top, some bastard pulled me back down so I can stay with them."**

" **You're a goddamn idiot."**

" **How so? An idiot can't make it as far as I did."**

 **I walk over to Malcolm's body, looking at his face. His eyes are still open. I close them with what remains of his eyelids. "You remember those talks we had as kids, those talks about taking over the neighborhood and helping everybody equally?"**

 **Mary looks to the side for a bit, trying to remember, then looks straight back at me, "Yeah."**

" **We said we would do it together and we said we would make everyone safe so that nobody will ever be hurt ever again." I stand up. "We both failed that promise."**

" **You should've joined me. The Cagers were already powerful and eventually, we could have taken over the city, making sure that no one messes with us and the people under us. Everyone would've only have one gang to follow and listen to, but your Slits prevented that from happening."**

" **Listen to yourself, listen to the blood coming out of your mouth Mary, the evil and pain that floods out. You used to be a nice girl, you always wanted to help other people, but now. That Mary is dead, buried six feet under your heart so she can never come back. That was the Mary I loved." She raises an eyebrow at me and cocks her head sideways. "You're just someone using her skin to get what you were never able to have before, you greedy, selfish thing."**

" **You loved me, Vanya?"**

" **Not you." I clench my fist. "I'm going to kill you for what you did to Mary."**

" **I'm Mary. I don't know what you're talking about."**

 **I walk toward her, one step at a time, speeding up, faster, her face only a meter away. She reaches for the bat on the floor, but I swing left, miss, then turn for a right elbow, it hits. She staggers, dropping the bat, then left jab at me, then a right jab, they hit. I charge for another punch, but her right hook staggers me. Then a left kick at my side, then an uppercut when I sway helplessly in the wind. She tries to kick me down, but I grab the leg and pull it. I punch her face as she falls toward me. She tries to stand up straight, but she sways. I hit her face once more, she falls to the ground. I sit on top of her and see the red river down her nose. My right hand raises and falls onto her face. Again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again. My fist hurts. My shoulder is sore. I look at her face. Her left eye is completely shut and can no longer open. It cries blood, sad that it can no longer see the world properly. The river becomes warm, as it overflows to flood the peach forest around it, becoming an ocean. All I can hear is her cough and every time, little red droplets come out, her voice soft and defenseless.**

 **She can no longer live. She is having trouble just breathing and her body is lifeless. There's only one thing I can do. I wrap my hands around her neck and squeeze. Lightly at first, her neck reminds me of the past, soft, gentle, but then she tries to break free. I tighten my grip, I feel the air below trying to break out, to reach the light and travel through the free air, to no longer be trapped. I hear Mary coming back, I hear her beg, but I know it is not her. She died years ago. The monster is begging, it's scared of dying, but the monster sounds like her. The monster is defenseless, it is soft. Harder, harder. Her hand cups itself onto my cheek, gently, not restricting me, but caressing me. I can feel Malcolm's blood on it. Mary is here, the monster is gone. The monster was Mary. She wants to die now, but only by my hands. Then, as soon as it rose, the hand falls. The air disappears from her, all is gone. Her eye is no longer green, but grey. Nothing remains of her but the husk below me.**

 **Something falls down my eyes. I think I'm crying, not just for her, but for everything. The Slits who died, Atlas's ignorance, Malcolm's death, Mary's loss. One last thing, for the people I love, but for now, only for you. I lower my face toward Mary's. My hair spreads around her as if they were her red wings. My lips gently caress her's. They are cold, but dry even as the blood from her nose was plentiful. I close my eyes and just keep feeling her lips. This doesn't make me happy or excited, but I just want to keep doing it. I feel as if it is the proper way to say hello and goodbye to her. One last time, and only for her as it spreads for everyone I cared about. She is Mary, she is all. My friend, comrade, lover, source of pain.**

 **I wonder what would've happened if I adopted her instead? Maybe she would've smiled more and natural love me. Perhaps we would marry and adopt a kid. She would become a police officer and I would be a poet. Yeah, it's nice to dream.**

 **I stop and lift my head to see her peaceful face, both eyes closed. A tear from my eye lands on her's and slides down, red as it reaches the floor. I stand up and walk away from her. I don't want to see her ever again. If I do, I'll never forgive myself. I walk out onto the hallway toward the exit, not thinking about anything except for the doors that will lead me out. However, something is missing. I walk rush to the armory. I need it. Two people have died today, two very near and dear to me.**


	11. My Way Of Grievance

**I walk down the hall and to the left, no, right, there lies a hallway. The fifth door on the right, that's the radio room. First door left, nothing, second door right, nothing, fourth door left, the armory. There lies guns, clips , and dust bullets. I take the dust magazines and the bullets, but something catches my attention. Vials of pure powdered dust, glistening under the light. I take all of the vials, putting as many as I can in my pocket. I look in the corner, the axe is there. I put it over my shoulder. I can still carry it. Good.**

 **I quickly walk out the theater, where my comrades are waiting for me. They look at the bullets and rounds I carry, glad that I took since the others are also holding magazines, as much as they can carry.**

 **Rylie looks at me. "You dealt with Mary?"**

 **I nod. I don't feel like saying much. "Let's go back to the apartment."**

 **All six of us walk in silence to our home, tired feet pressing onto the lifeless ground, footsteps echoing in the still air.**

 **I open the door first and see the black night through the windows in front of me. It's rather soothing to see such a sight. I walk into the living room to drop off the axe and the magazines. I rush to the bathroom to wash the blood off my face, just a splash of water, no need to look at the mirror. Once finished, I walk to my room. The others look at me. "Don't talk to me, I'm going to sleep now." I tell them all.**

 **The door shuts and I sit on my bed, staring at the demons on the wall. Should I do it?** _ **Yes**_ **they all tell me.** _ **You've done it before, one more time won't hurt.**_ **But I quit for a reason.** _ **You're hurt right now, you need to feel better and this makes you feel really good.**_ **This is pure, it's stronger.** _ **So it's better.**_ **They see the doubt in me.** _ **It's okay, just one more time and never again.**_

 **I pull out the vials. Eight. Two red, two green, one white, one yellow, two orange. I pour the pairs in little lines on my nightstand. I pull out my pipe from my backpack and pour the white dust into it. I snort the red and green. My vision blurs, but then everything blooms. The red and yellow. Everything sounds beautiful. A tear emerges from the edge of my eye. Red and red, even better. Yellow and red, so much better. It's all gone. I reach for my lighter in my backpack and light the pipe. I can smell it, the fresh scent of berries from mom's fruit pie slithering up my nose.**

 **My body is light, I feel like I could fly. The colors around be shift about. Everything blends together, red and blue to make purple, green and orange to make pink. It might be wrong, I don't even care, it's beautiful. A tree comes up from the floor, tall, seeds falling from its branches. The tree spins and red grass grows from beneath. The walls fall and what lies behind are ledges that drop onto beaches. The sky is blue as it can ever be in this damn grey neighborhood.**

 **I'm farther away from the tree. I walk closer to it, there appears to be a swing on its branch and two people are sitting on it. I walk closer. It is Malcolm and a faunus woman accompanies him, smiling and laughing. This would be him if he were alive. My mind is playing with me, it's telling me the truth.**

" **Goddammit, I know it's my fault!" I yell at the sky, where the source of it all lies.**

" **Vanya?" I hear Malcolm saying to me.**

" **Stop, don't say anything to me! I know you're dead, I know I killed you! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"**

" **What are you saying, I was killed by Mary."**

" **I should've choked her while we were waiting for the bus. She was so frail and tender back then, I never would've known what she would've become!"**

" **Vanya, you loved Mary there was no way you would have killed her."**

" **You were leading a revolution, Malcolm. You were changing the world and I have always supported you, but Mary ended it! She was one person, you could've saved so many lives if you lived on."**

" **I ended my rebellion five years ago, Mary had nothing to do with it. Why are you speaking such nonsense?"**

" **Stop it, shut up! Oh god, I can't live with this. I killed such a kind man. I deserve to die." I look around. I see my axe on the floor. If I am to die, I will die with honor. I pick up my axe and run down the hill.**

" **Vanya!" He calls. I don't turn around, I keep running down.**

 **I run into a forest. It is dark and tight. I can barely breathe, my lungs feel thin. I see something. A wolf I run to it and swing. It splits in half. Its brethren com and lunge at me, I swing again, they all fall.**

 **A bird flies in the air, its saliva escaping its beak. It flies toward me with great speed. I point the axe at it, I feel a trigger and I pull it three times. The eyes fall out and it falls closer. I chop down as the head comes near me, the head splits open and it's still.**

 **Two snakes the side of the trees they slither by I lunge toward them and I swing near the necks of both to slit the neck of the white, but the black remains standing. I land behind it and run to it, inserting the blade into its belly before it can move, then I fire on the ground and run straight up to split the beast. Once past the lip, I fall toward the ground again and land on my feet, staggering a bit. The chest opens wide as double doors and the beast falls.**

 **A scorpion comes from the side, it's tail falling straight down on me. I swing the axe, the pointed tip of the tail falling off. I readjust and swing the axe down one last time. I scream, I let my soul yell to the top of its lungs as I think of the many families, apprentice hunters that would be saved once I slaughter this bastard. The axe pierces the mask and cuts open the head. I raise and drop it once more. Once again, another, more, more. It lies down, still as the trees around us, its blood surrounding it, mourning their master.**

 **I back away, looking deeper into the forest, waiting to no avail. "C'mon you bastards, come and get me!" Silence reigns above the forest as its king. "You bitches scared or something? C'mon, you're not supposed to feel anything, just come and fight me!" No eyes peek at me, no figures come to take my challenge, I can live another day. I laugh. "Too hot". This was the zone, this was the place where ten good people died and one insane human garbage easily breezes through the challenges.**

" **There's gotta more, Stop hiding, I know you're there! If you're gonna laugh, do it in front of my damn face!" No one speaks, no one else breathes but me. "Atlas said this place was dangerous, they said there were lots of you! I know you're all there. Ten of our group members died in the beginning! Joseph's friends were slaughtered by you all! You killed a huntress! Where the hell are you now?" I can't hear them laughing, but I know they are. "Come out and kill me goddammit!" I cry. My eyes water and my vision grows blurry. My legs grow weak, I drop the axe and I fall onto the floor. The river floods onto my face and I screech through my lungs. I yell at the top of my lungs as I cry. I hear the trees shake as I yell, the grass shifting. I stay there, whimpering, wailing, pathetic, lonely, sorry. Everything turns black, but the sounds remain. I still hear it, my heart bleeding out of my eyes, my soul escaping my lungs. I should have died. I should have died a long time ago.**


	12. Smoke and Mirrors

**I don't know what happened last night, but I wake up this morning with my body aching all over. I look around, my room. I'm back at the apartment. A bit of smoke rises from my right and I look over to see the remains of a cigarette, with slight hints of dust inside. Beside it are the shadows of what were powdered dust lines. I did it again.**

 **I hear a knock on my door, it's Cadea, looking a bit pale. Her eyes look tired and her face is covered in fear. I wave her over comes to sit by me. She stays quiet for a while, looking at the dust lines on the table beside me. I look at the wall, waiting for her to say something. Oh god, this silence is unbearable. It's as if she's telling me to think of what I've done, all the while silently judging me.**

" **Times are hard, Vanya." She begins. I was about to reply but she goes on before I could say anything. "But this isn't right." She begins to cry. I want to tell her something that will make her stop, but I don't know what. All I can do is sit here, wait, listen. "Do you even remember what you did when we got out of the movie theater?"**

" **I looked for pure dust in the armory of the theater, Then I used them as a way to get high."**

" **Do you know what happened when you were high?"**

" **No."**

 **She clenches her fists and forcefully closes her eyes, squeezing out more tears. "You said Malcolm's death was all your fault, then you grabbed the axe you took from that one huntress and went out hunting Grimm in hopes that one of them would be lucky enough to kill you, but none of them were able to. You ended up attracting so many Grimm to you, but you killed them all, saying it was all their fault that we could never be happy."**

" **Then I yelled and cried for the next few minutes, right?"**

" **Yeah. You later passed out on Seventy-Sixth Avenue and we carried you back to the apartment before you hurt yourself anymore."**

" **Sounds like one of my usual high trips." I chuckle lightly, but Cadea glares at me angrily.**

" **You could've died, and you're laughing about this? After Malcolm-" She chokes on her sentence, pausing briefly to get the words out before continuing. "After Malcolm, I don't want anyone else to die. So many people have died already, I don't want anyone else." Her voice becomes unstable and she shakes heavily. I grab her, holding her close and gently rubbing her back to soothe her.**

" **It's okay, it's okay, I'm here aren't I? I'm fine, no one else is going to die anymore, I promise. Shhh, it's okay." I whisper in her ear. She begins to calm down, but I also wanted to ask her one thing that peaked my interest. "But you said something about me killing a lot of Grimm?"**

" **Wolves, a Griffon, a snake, a scorpion. We thought you were going to die, but you managed to take them all down somehow."**

 **I never knew I had the physical ability to kill that many Grimm by myself without a gun, and with the axe. It was kind of difficult to hold too, but from what Cadea said, I held it with no problem. I look at the table. Pure dust. I've always used pre crushed powder found in ammunition, but this is my first time using pure since the stores that sold them were always so well secured and it was hard to lift them off the shelves.**

" **Cadea, this is great news." I tell her.**

" **How so?"**

" **I think I got stronger since I put pure dust into my body. I think I have the strength of a hunter now."**

 **She looks at me with eyes white, and pupils dilated, "Don't tell me you're thinking of taking on that Grimm by yourself."**

" **I'm not as defenseless as before, Cadea. I can take it on."**

" **Vanya, do you remember the last huntress that used that couldn't even kill a king Taiju by herself. You were lucky last night, that's all that was."**

" **But we need to get out of this neighborhood as soon as possible for your baby."**

" **Eleven people had already died in the place of my child. If one more person has to die, then I might as well die too."**

 **I look at her eyes, showing her the blood that trickles through. "Don't say things like that.:"**

 **She looks at the floor. "You don't have to die for my baby, if the time comes, we'll find a way to deliver the child."**

" **What if we need to do a c-section?"**

" **Then we'll do it."**

 **No matter how much I look at her with my disapproving irises, she won't move. Something needs to be done. If nothing is done and we are still here, then Malcolm's death would've been in vain.**

 **I hear talking outside. I stand up and walk out the door before I yell at Cadea. I see the monkey sitting on the windowsill talking to Luther and the woman talking to Kiana. They look at me when I walk out. The monkey smiles. "Had a good sleep last night?" Smug bastard.**

" **Just peachy. What're you two doing here?"**

" **Well that's not a nice way to-"**

" **Just answer the damn question."**

 **The monkey raises an eyebrow, but doesn't answer. The woman has to do it for him. "Your battle last night was pretty loud, especially since you yelled so much near the end." I nod, but then she continues, "Why do you hate us so much anyways? We're here right now because we want to help you."**

 **I can't help but grin, "Do you know who Joseph is?"**

" **No."**

" **Guess he's on his own then. Thanks for your efforts though."**

" **Well we're going to help you and the least you could do is act decent to us."**

" **I hate acting, it's basically hiding behind a mask and being transparent." I pick up my axe. "We're doing this now."**

" **Now? After you just woke up?" Luther asks me.**

" **I want Cadea to be in a hospital before the baby comes out and she already eight months and three weeks pregnant. We're doing this now." I turn to Kiana, "Grab the backpacks and guns, but leave the food for other survivors to find."**

 **I walk out the door before anyone could object, down the stairs, out the exit, leaning beside the entrance. I can hear a single pair of footsteps coming down the stairs, following me. The cat appears from the door. "What's your problem with us?"**

" **Let's start from the beginning." I immediately say. She wants to retort, but I interrupt her. "My name is Vanya, what's your's?"**

 **She looks at me skeptically before answering, "My name is Blake." her tone still somewhat bewildered at my sudden change in attitude.**

" **Blake, that's a pretty name."**

" **Thanks."**

" **What about the other guy?"**

" **His name is sun."**

" **Ah." I search for the things I want to say and open my mouth to speak, "I-" The words are stuck in my throat, this will be the first time I reveal my inner thoughts to another person beside Mary. I inhale deeply so the pride of hiding myself will go down. "I'm angry at the Grimm for existing, the White Fang for attacking, Atlas for abandoning us. Somewhere along the way, the line became gray and I just got pissed at anything that could be used to blame everything that happened. You two came late to rescue us, so my mad head pointed fingers at you for his death."**

" **So now that your head is cleared, who are you angry at?"**

 **That is a good question. There's no one to be angry at right now, but at the beginning, the very root of the problem. Only one thing had killed so many people, only one thing pushed humans beyond their mental boundaries. "The Grimm." I can tell she is looking at me, curious of what I have to say next. "They think they can just kill our children, seniors, and young adults with dreams without any consequence, simply because they are Grimm. I won't let them do that any longer. I am going to kill them all."**

" **That is a very difficult and dangerous task for one woman to do."**

" **I'm gonna find people who will join me, but if I have to do it alone, then so be it, but I'm not gonna sit still, I sure as hell am gonna die trying."**

 **I hear more footsteps from behind, walking down the stairs. Sun pops out of the exit. "So, am I interrupting anything?" he asks.**

" **Just a little bonding between me and Blake." I answer.**

" **So, you're not mad at us anymore?" he goes on.**

" **No, you just caught me on a bad day."**

" **I sure hope that doesn't happen anymore."**

" **Yeah." I look behind to see Rylie and Jason helping Cadea walk down the stairs, Kiana and Luther walk in front with their guns. I walk ahead, signalling Blake and Sun to follow me. They march beside me along this ambiguous road that we travel on. As we go on, I can't help but look at the abandoned buildings. I see Jean's apartment, Peter's snack shop, Mary's apartment, Father Elijah's apartment. So much history lies in this neighborhood, and I feel as if I'm running away from it all by getting Cadea to a hospital.**

" **Are you running away from something, Blake?" I ask her suddenly without making eye contact. She says nothing, still looking at the road instead of me, pretending as if she didn't hear me. Sun looks at the two of us, unsure of what he should do. How cute of him. "It's okay, I'm running away as well. I remember so many people in this neighborhood, but they're all gone. If I didn't already take them, then the Grimm did."**

" **How can you tell?" She asks me. I look at her eyes once more. "How can you tell that I am running away from something?"**

" **I never fall for illusions; they're all just smoke and mirrors. Keep looking long enough, and you see the mirror you're looking for. You have the face of a hunter, but the fading eyes of regret and fear, the two emotions of a self-aware coward. Malcolm had those eyes for a while as well, but right when the light came back, he died." I hear their mouths open, "Don't say sorry, I don't like that sympathy crap." They close their mouths back.**

 **There lies a green sign of white letters. "Tofts Street" it whispers with its dying breath. We're here. I hold my axe with both arms, preparing myself. "This was the place where you guys did your last escape attempt?" Blake asks me.**

" **Yeah, did Luther tell you?"**

 **They both nod. I can hear the Grimm coming already, they must be patrolling Tofts Street only to mock the survivors and encourage them to run to their deaths. The wolves emerge from the corners of the buildings, not charging, but lining themselves like knights for the king. Once in their lines, they stand still, waiting for the royalty to arrive. The wind moves above, then a figure falls from the sky, landing at the center of the line of wolves. The figure is a thick figure wearing a rag that cloaks his body from sight, its face is covered by a hat it wears. The hat belonged to Peter.**

" **You wish to sacrifice more humans to me?** " **The creature mocks. I can see its smile peeking above the rag that it wears.**

" **We're getting out of here and you're going to get out of the way you bastard." I retort.**

 **It smiles wider, "** **You humans never learn do you? Your fellow man continues to die day after day, but yet you consist on 'beating' the Grimm. You are all weak and you don't even know. You are as bad as us, but you are blind to it. You kill each other, but you justify it in the most pathetic way imaginable. Your kind deserves to die.** "

" **Yeah, Peter sure was a bastard wasn't he?" I question it. its smile lowers a bit. "He owned a snack shop and sold them for cheap even if it bankrupted him because he wanted to feed us poverty kids. Real glad you kept his hat after you slit his throat, wouldn't want it to go to waste now."**

" **Peter is one man in your disgusting species.** " **it speaks.**

" **And what about Jean, you know, the doctor in training who went back to save an old lady from your hands but ended up being cut up as well?"**

" **He was a fool for trying to be a hero.** " **It justifies.**

 **I glare deeper into its heart. Black, empty, of course. It was dead the moment it was born. "You killed three kids whose lives barely began, two elders who just wanted to die in peace, and five young adults who had dreams for the near future. None of them were bad people. I should know, I've seen bad people, I am one, but you didn't kill any of them." Its smile grows wider again, seeing my anger. I'm feeding the damn thing. Good, I'll overstuff it. "You gutless bastard, you Grimm are the reason why everyone suffs."**

" **Would things really be better without us? You'd only kill each other. Remember that woman in red who killed so many people for power? How about that sociopathic woman with mismatched hair on the roof who quenches for blood?** " **His head tilts in the direction of the apartment by me. I didn't even look because I know she'd land right next to me, smiling at the Grimm. Blake and Sun point their weapons at her.**

" **Drop it, she's with us." They're still skeptical about her being on our side. "Malcolm was able to convince her to change her ways." They slowly lower their weapons, but are still tense about her presence. I walk closer to the figure at the center. "You three take on the wolves, I'm taking this thing on." I can tell they want to help me with the being. "I might accidentally kill you if you get in my way."**

 **The being is meters away from me before his arms extend to cut me. I position the blade of my axe in front of me, cutting the arm that extends at me, pushing me back with great force but I still stand. The being screams in pain and retracts its arm and glares at me with red eyes. The wolves try to run at me, but the others intercept them. The being now runs at me, stepping left and right to confuse me. Left, right, left, right.**

 **I swing to my left and he catches the blade before it hits him and tries to pull it away from me. It lifts me off the ground and I fly to an apartment wall, still holding the axe. Its arm slams into my body, slowly crushing me with its weight. I can feel my lungs collapsing ever so slightly. I grab its arm and push it off of me slowly, screaming as if it will save my life. The wall behind me collapses and I fall down quickly recovering, seeing the being's arm on the floor. I pick up the axe and swing down onto the arm with all my strength, cutting deep into its arm.**

 **It screams excruciatingly as it tries to pull its arm away, dragging me along with it. It tries to slam me again, but I pull the axe off and land next to it. I swing once more at its chest, cutting deep into its side. I punch my palm on the handle of the axe to make it go in deeper. It yells and screeches some more before swinging its arm once more, but I punch at the arm and wound it. I kick at its leg, making it kneel before me, and pull the axe out of its chest. I slam the axe down onto the back of its head, ruining Peter's hat. It's still. I pull it out and slam again, this time it falls down onto the ground. Pull and swing, pull and swing, pull and swing, pull and swing.**

 **My vision comes back and my body is tired. I'm covered in my own sweat and my shirt is covered in blood. I look down at the being I was fighting. there is nothing there. Only blood and meat and remains of the clothes it wore. I look up to see Blake and Sun looking at me with frightened eyes. It's as if they saw a friend die briefly. Blake slowly walk closer to me, "Vanya, are you okay?"**

" **Yeah." I flick my hand to get the blood off of my axe. "I'm fine." Is this what the being was saying? It probably was. Humans aren't Grimm, but when drowning in their own sea of hate and anger, they could be just as bad as those creatures. I feel an arm on my shoulder. It's the mismatched woman. She pats my shoulder some more before jumping away.**

" **Wait!" Blake yells at her.**

" **It's okay, let her do her own thing. She won't kill anyone anymore unless she has to." I tell her.**

" **How do you know?"**

" **She's tired of blood. Blood is what got her friend killed and will result in her death too." I walk away from the being and down Tofts Street. "Let's go." I tell the others. I got a glimpse at Cadea and the others before I looked away. They also look shocked, like during Malcolm's execution. I walk for a bit before hearing the footsteps of the others behind me.**

 **At the end of Tofts Street, there are four Atlas guards, blocking the entrance and exit of the road. They point their guns at us when they see us. "Halt, state your business." One says.**

" **Doing your goddamn job for you, step aside soldier boys." I retort.**

" **Ma'am, you need to stand down before we fire." The other threatens.**

" **We have a woman in labor who is due very soon. She needs to be taken to a hospital immediately." Luther answers them.**

 **They lower their guns and open the barrier for us to pass. "Does she need any help?" One of them asks.**

" **No, I'm fine." Cadea answers.**

" **We've been taking care of ourselves just fine without any of you, so you can just go back to looking important." I glare at them. They look back at me with dissent.**

" **What's your problem lady?" One asks me.**

 **I walk past them and beyond, what I see only infuriates me more. A man with black hair and a pure white coat that extends to his knee. He walks toward us with his army behind him. Only soldiers and hunters are seen in the vicinity. "Now you see why we couldn't save you. We had to evacuate civilians from the main city first. There was a very powerful Grimm seen in the area-"**

" **You mean the bitch with the gravel voice?" I interrupt him. He looks at me with dissent. It doesn't mean a damn thing to me, so I continue. "I killed it. Now you can do your damn job and evacuate the few people left in the neighborhood."**

" **Well, I applaud you for your bravery. Now, before you interrupted me, I was about to say that we are currently preparing to enter the neighborhood and eliminate the remaining Grimm."**

" **Were you really so busy that you couldn't spare a few hunters to help the people in this area?" Sun questions him.**

" **There was a Grimm in the area that we have never encountered before, we couldn't risk it."**

" **People died because you were late!" Blake yells at him.**

" **What about you two, aren't you hunters? What were you even doing in the vicinity if you weren't going to help the civilians in the area?" They do not reply to him. "Exactly." I walk toward him. His soldiers raise their guns, but he waves his hand for them to stand down. "Yeah, listen to King Ironheart." I walk closer until my clothes are only a few inches away from his. "Do you smell that, metalheart? That's the blood of the unidentified little prick that you were so scared about. If a gangster nobody like me could take it on, your little trained toys could have."**

 **He looks at me up and down, gazing at the axe I'm holding. "If you're a nobody, then where did you get that axe? Hunters are the only ones with weapons like that and they are not nobodies."**

 **I hold the axe up to his face. "She was an aspiring woman who wanted to get into beacon eventually, but the Grimm attack came and she had to survive. She died as a nobody, not remembered by anybody but us, the people who saw her die that day and I'm carrying her axe so I can take her fight against the Grimm to the front lines for her. You tell me one more time that hunters are not nobodies and I dare you to name all of the hunters in your academy." I back away from him, "That's right, they're just your little pawns. You can't remember them for jack."**

 **A woman beside him opens her mouth as if to retort to me, but the man tells her to stand down and looks at me with a cold face. "You're right, I may be cold and heartless, but I'm doing it for humanity. If a few people must die so a lot of people can be saved, then so be it, but this is what my job demands from me, to make hard decisions like this, so back off."**

" **If it takes you this long to make a hard decision, then you probably aren't that good of a general." I walk past him and stand beside a group of soldiers, "Is anyone kind enough to point to the nearest hospital for my pregnant friend?" I yell. Nobody moves for a brief moment, then somebody points their arm west. Luther, Cadea, Jason, Rylie, and Kiana begin walking in the direction the soldier points to. "You all need to remember that you're individuals too, so do what you believe is best for humanity even if it means disobeying orders." I yell at the crowd, who remains mute and still.**

 **I walk past them, continuing north along Toft Street, past the end of the soldiers' lines. I keep walking on this empty path, the city seemingly rebuilt for the privileged many. I don't think of anything because I don't know anything anymore. At first, the bad guy seemed clear, but now I don't know who's responsible for our poverty. Beacon, the hunters, us citizens, humanity? It could be either of them and I would never know. I stop in front of a clothing store, still intact and whole. A model of a man in a white business shirt and black blue slacks stand in front of me, with a blue tie. It's all just smoke and mirrors, that's all it is. I just gotta remember who I am, where I'm from, who I need to kill.**

 **That's easy. Vanya. Beacon. All Grimm responsible for hurting people. Everything else is irrelevant. Just white noise, buzzing away until I die. Malcolm knows this. He always knew this, but he let the white noise get to him. Right now, I need to do my duty as a part of humanity, as a citizen of Beacon.**


	13. And The Sun Slowly Sleeps

**I walk down the white halls, sweating like crazy. I never liked hospitals. They remind me too much of my friends who died before me, screaming because of a bullet in their chest or crying because of their fading heartbeat. Now I'm thinking the same thing of Cadea, even though she's fine. I start playing with my tie and unbuttoning some buttons on my shirt. I see the numbers on the door, "776". I take a deep breath and open the door, seeing her sit on a bed by the window, looking at a potted plant on the window sill. She's breastfeeding her kid now.**

 **She looks at me and she smiles. "Come here, Vanya."**

 **I walk closer to see the kid. I look underneath, it's a boy for sure. I look at his hair, smooth and black like silk. He has the tiny hands of a creator rather than a warrior and the legs of a rusher who doesn't care about any dangers in his way.**

" **He's really cool. What's his name?"**

 **She pats his head. "I named him Monty, after my husband."**

" **Monty, that's a damn cool name." She looks at me with a scolding face, "Ah, sorry." I chuckle a bit. I sit down on the chair by her bed, looking blankly at Monty for a while. I'm just glad he's out of there. His mom won't have to worry about him joining a gang or getting shot anymore. He can now stay in this protected city and learn how to be an intellectual human. If only Mary lived a life like he is going to. I don't even care if I never would've met her, as long as she could live.**

 **Cadea looks at me, "What are you thinking about?"**

" **Just that Monty's a luck bastard for having such an easy future." She looks at me again with that same face, "Oh, sorry again."**

 **She giggles a bit, "It's okay, I don't think he even understands right now. I actually don't really care if he grows up with a potty mouth like you, just as long as he uses it wisely rather than just tossing it around everywhere for the sake of sounding cool."**

" **Let's hope he doesn't become one of** _ **those**_ **people." We smile for a bit like we did, then it's quiet again. I look out the window and see a mechanical bird fly, "Kiana and Rylie are going on their first Atlas mission tomorrow, huh?" I ask**

" **Yeah. They wanted to help others too so I'm not surprised that they chose that job." she answers.**

 **I see a flock of doves fly by, across the blue sky, into the clouds, other doves following them as they pass by. "When is Luther going to start his first campaign?"**

" **Tomorrow morning."**

" **Well, if anyone's going to continue Malcolm's campaign for equality, it's Luther."**

" **He's always been a sweet man who wanted everyone to get along."**

" **Kind of a wimp if you ask me." She looks at me again, "Just kidding, just kidding." I smile. I look out at the door, back at the hallway. "Do you think Jason's going to be a good nurse?"**

" **Maybe, but he's still sort of a newbie at it."**

" **Well, at least he changed. I'm surprised Malcolm was able to change his Cager mindset."**

" **Malcolm was great, but I doubt he'd recognize any of us after those two weeks. I mean, look at you, you're wearing a suit. Granted you're wearing your tie in a messy way and you rolled the sleeves up, but you still look official nonetheless."**

" **Thanks, just trying to look like my favorite equal rights advocate."**

 **She looks down at Monty, still drinking away, "You really respected Malcolm, huh?" She asks me.**

" **I went to every one of his rallies whenever he came into the neighborhood. He said great things that made me hope like a fool, but everything fell after that one speech on T.V."**

" **Yeah." She stays quiet for a while, still looking at Monty, her one star in her life. "Where are you going to go, Vanya?"**

" **Well, I'm going to hunt for Grimm."**

" **Why?"**

" **I'm basically a hunter now, I can help people and prevent others from dying. I want to take advantage of my strength."**

" **The doctors said that your powers are still somewhat unstable since you got physical enhancements because the impure dust you took a while back all burst at once after you took the pure one."**

" **As long as it works, that's enough for me."**

" **Why do you want to leave me so badly?" She exclaims. Monty begins to tear up and Cadea rocks him slightly to calm him down. "Everyone is leaving me. Why can't you stay with me, Cadea? Please, just stay with me."**

" **I can't possibly stay here. I have to kill the Grimm."**

" **Do you have to or do you want to?"**

" **Both." We stay silent for a while. The air around us grew somewhat thick and tense for those couple minutes of silence, then Cadea sighs as if in defeat. It's almost sad just how faded her eyes have become, but I have my own road to travel on that unfortunately goes away from her. She looks at my arm. "Mary made really beautiful tattoos." I nod. "I'm going to miss seeing that dragon." I nod again. She looks at Monty again. He's calmer now and he's still feeding like he was before. "Just go, go before I start crying." I stand up and look at Monty. I pat his head. It feels really soft. I kiss Cadea on the cheek as a goodbye. I walk out the door. I could hear a sniffle in the room before I completely closed it. I want to make Revenant a safer place for both of them. That's why I have to do this.**

 **I sit on the bench, looking at the kids play on the playground. Beacon is miles away now, but I could still see the hospital Cadea was staying in. I miss her already, I miss everyone, but that's what a hunter has to deal with when they're doing their job. Still, I miss everyone. Though I want to talk to them again some day, I still haven't heard from several. I haven't heard from Joseph, Blake, Sun, or that woman with the mismatched hair. I just hope that they're safe and happy somewhere. Then, a tall figure on the playground catches my attention.**

 **The man walks to the top of the slide, looking at the sky. Yeah, the sun is pretty, what with the orange sky due to the setting sun. It makes sense for him to look at it. He puts his arms out wide and screams to the top of his lungs, "I'm gonna kill all of you Grimm! I'm making sure these kids live to see the future! If you want to kill someone, come at me because I will surely kill you!"**

 **He then jumps down from the slide, but trips and lands flat on his face. I walk over to him as he cleans himself up. He looks at me. "Why hello Ms. Tuxedo."**

" **You said you wanted to kill all Grimm on the top of that slide, right?"**

" **Yeah, why?"**

" **Mind if I join you on your journey to kill off all Grimm?"**

" **Oh hell yeah!" He grabs my hand and clenches it. "Let's go hunt some Grimm together." Then a girl with a blue hoodie and black pants come out, her mouth covered by a medical mask with a "W" on it.**

" **Um, ,,is it okay if I come too?" She asks us timidly, her voice very soft and quiet.**

"" **Yee!" He wraps his arms around her, making her face grows bright red, "We're just one person short of a full team!"**

 **Just as he said that, a woman with grey skin, silver hair, and a collar comes toward us. "Can I join as well?"**

" **Wait a minute, you aren't human are you?"**

" **I'm a Grimm, but I want to kill my mom."**

" **Can we trust her?" I ask the man.**

 **He plays with his goatee for a bit before exclaiming, "Quickly, what do those little things on the playground look like?"**

" **Young human kids playing with some Faunus kids." she answers him.**

" **Hell Yee, you're with us!"**

" **That's it?" I ask him.**

" **As long as she doesn't find them delicious, then it's okay!"**

 **The woman giggles. "You're really cute. My name is Nirva, what're your names, my comrades."**

" **My name's Isaac!" The man says excitedly.**

" **M-my name is Elani, but you can call me Ali." The masked girl says, still uncomfortable in isaac's arms.**

" **My name's Vanya, nice to meet you guys."**

" **Nice to meet you all by coincidence at this playground in the middle of an undisclosed town, now let us make haste, that Grimm mother of your's will not kill herself!" isaac yells.**

" **Hell yee!" I chant. His excitement spreads very easily. And so I march on beneath an army of trees alongside my newly met teammates and we walk on, as the sun slowly sleeps for the day. No matter, we'll take its place and we'll bring light onto all of the lands, onto all of Revenant. Soon, everyone will be safe.**


End file.
